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BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY 
"  OF    NORTH     CAROLINA       ^ 

'OLD   NORTH   STATE'^  EDITION 

THIS  EDITION  IS  STRICTLY 
LIMITED  TO  SEVEN  HUNDRED 
AND  FIFTY  REGISTERED  AND 
NUMBERED  SETS,  OP  WHICH 
THIS    IS    SET    NUMBER^ 


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THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  UBRARY 


A^Tf  H.  LENOX  AND 
IlL^UUi  FOUMOATION8 


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of  I-iorti)  vi.arolina 


From  Colonial  Times 
to  the  Present 


Editors 

Samuel  A.  Ashe 

Stephen  B.  Weeks 

Charles  L.  Van  Noppen 

VOLUME   II 

Charles    L.    Van    Noppen 

PUBLISHER 

Greensboro,  N.  C. 

-7 


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•  • _•  •    • • 

•  ••• •    • 


Copyright,  1905 
By  Charles  L.  Van  Noppen 


All  rights  reserved 


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Kemp  P.  Battle    . 
Jqhn  C.  Buxton 
Theo.  F.  Davidson 
Junius  Davis     . 
rufus  a.  doughton 
Thomas  J.  Jarvis 
James  Y.  Joyner   . 
Charles  D.  McIver 
William  L.  Poteat 
James  H.  Southgate 
Charles  W.  Tillett 


Chapel  Hill 

Winston-Salem 

.    Asheville 

Wilmington 

Sparta 

Greenville 

Raleigh 

.     Greensboro 

Wake  Forest 

Durham 

.    Charlotte 


/ 


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Advisory  Board vii 

Contents ix 

Portraits xiii 

Contributors xv 

Robert  Washington  Allison i 

John  Phifer  Allison 6 

Albert  Anderson lo 

William  Carter -Bain 14 

Andrew  Balfour 17 

George  W.  Brooks 20 

Thomas  Burke 27 

William  Preston  Bynum 33 

William  P.  Bynum,  Jr 42 

Stephen  Cabarrus 47 

Julian  Shakespeare  Carr 51 

Samuel  Price  Carson 60 

Richard  Cogdell 64 

John  Daves 67 

George  Davis 71 

Junius  Davis 82 

James  Few 89 

Burgess  Sidney  Gaither 93 

William  Gaston 99 


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CONTENTS 


Calvin  Gra\'es io8 

Thomas  Jefferson  Green 114 

Wharton  Jackson  Green 120 

Hezekiah  Alexander  Gudger 126 

Egbert  Barry  Cornwall  Ha^^bley 133 

\JPLeasant  Henderson  Hanes 139 

John  Wesley  Hanes 146 

Cornelius  Harnett 152 

Louis  D.  Henry 163 

William  Jackson  Hicks 167 

Jacob  Franklin  Highsmith 173 

John  Hinton 178 

James  Hunter 180 

Herman  Husbands 185 

James  Innes 194 

James  Iredell 198 

Charles  Earl  Johnson 203 

John  Lawson 212 

William  Lenoir 219 

John  Van  Lindley '222 

William  Little 228 

^James  Anderson  Long  ^. 231 

Frederick  William  Von  Marshall 237 

Joseph  Martin 240 

John  Motley  Morehead 250 

James  Turner  Morehead 259 

Eugene  Lindsay  Morehead 265 

James  Turner  Morehead 272 

Joseph  Motley  Morehead 278 

Mark  Morgan 282 

Maurice  Moore 293 


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CONTENTS  xi 


James  Moore 298 

Alfred  Moore 302 

Hardy  Murfree 307 

John  Milton  Odell 315 

James  Alexander  Odell 320 

^'illiam  Robert  Odell 325 

Samuel  Finley  Patterson 328 

RuFUS  Lenoir  Patterson 334 

Samuel  Legerwood  Patterso!^ 344 

Lindsay  Patterson 352 

RuFus  Lenoir  Patterson,  Jr 357 

William  Polk 361 

John  Porter 369 

Robert  Payne  Richardson,  Jr.  .  • 374 

Griffith  Rutherford 381 

Levi  M.  Scott 386 

Henry  Seawell 394 

John  Sitgreaves 398 

Benjamin  Smith 401 

Seth  Sothel 406 

James  Haywood  Southgate 410 

Frank  Shepherd  Spruill 416 

James  J.  Thomas 421 

Calvin  Henderson  Wiley 427 

Patrick  Henry  Winston,  Sr 441 

Patrick  Henry  Winston,  Jr 450 

George  Tayloe  Winston 460 

Robert  Watson  Winston 467 

Francis  D.  Winston 475 

Nicholas  Washington  Woodfin 481 


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John  Motley  Morehead Frontispiece 

Robert  Washington  Allison facing  i 

John  Phifer  Allison "  6 

Walter  Carter  Bain "  14 

William  Preston  Bynum "  33 

William  Preston  Bynum,  Jr "  42 

Julian  Shakespeare  Carr "  51 

George  Davis "  71 

Junius  Davis **  82 

Thomas  Jefferson  Green "  114 

Wharton  Jackson  Green "  120 

Hezekiah  Alexander  Gudger "  126 

Egbert  Barry  Cornwall  Hambley "  133 

Pleasant  Henderson  Hanes "  139 

John  Wesley  Hanes "  146 

William  Jackson  Hicks "  167 

Jacob  Franklin  Highsmith "  173 

Charles  Earl  Johnson "  203 

John  Van  Lindley "  222 

James  Anderson  Long "  231 

James  Turner  Morehead "  259 

Eugene  Lindsay  Morehead "  265 

James  Turner  Morehead "  272 


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John  Motley  Morehead Frontispiece 

Robert  Washington  Allison facing      i 

John  Phifer  Allison "  6 

Walter  Carter  Bain "  14 

William  Preston  Bynum "  33 

William  Preston  Bynum,  Jr "  42 

Julian  Shakespeare  Carr "  51 

George  Davis "  71 

Junius  Davis **  82 

Thomas  Jefferson  Green "  114 

Wharton  Jackson  Green "  120 

Hezekiah  Alexander  Gudger **  126 

Egbert  Barry  Cornwall  Hambley **  133 

Ple.\sant  Henderson  Hanes "  139 

John  Wesley  Hanes "  146 

William  Jackson  Hicks "  167 

Jacob  Franklin  Highsmith "  173 

Charles  Earl  Johnson "  203 

John  Van  Lindley "  222 

James  Anderson  Long "  231 

James  Turner  Morehead "  259 

Eugene  Lindsay  Morehead "  265 

James  Turner  Morehead "  272 


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xiv  PORTRAITS 


Joseph  Motley  Morehead facing  278 

Mark  Morgan "  282 

John  Milton  Odell "  315 

James  Alexander  Odell "  320 

William  Robert  Odell "  325 

Samuel  Finley  Patterson "  328 

RuFUs  Lenoir  Patterson,  Sr "  334 

Samuel  Legerwood  Patterson "  344 

Lindsay  Patterson "  352 

RuFus  Lenoir  Patterson,  Jr "  357 

Robert  Payne  Richardson,  Jr "  374 

Levi  M.  Scott "  386 

Henry  Seawell "  394 

James  Haywood  Southgate ''  410 

Frank  Shepherd  Spruill "  416 

James  J.  Thomas "  421 

Calvin  Henderson  Wiley "  427 

Patrick  Henry  Winston,  Sr. '*  441 

Patrick  Henry  Winston,  Jr "  450 

George  Tayloe  Winston "  460 

Robert  Watson  Winston *'  467 

Francis  D.  Winston "  475 

Nicholas  Washington  Woodfin "  481 


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Samuel  A.  Ashe  W.  H.  Macon 

Chas.  B.  Aycock,  Ph.B.,  LL.D.  Paul  B.  Means,  A.B. 

J.   S.  Bassett,  Ph.D.  Mason  E.  Mitchell 

Kemp  P.  Battle,  A.M.,  LL.D.  J.  H.  Myrover 

Rich.  H.  Battle,  A.B.,  LL.D.  Frank  Nash 

W.  A.  Blair,  A.'M.,  LL.D.  Junius  Parker 

G.  S.  Bradshaw,  A.B.,  A.M.  William  S.  Pearson,  A.B. 

R.  D.  W.  Connor,  Ph.B.  E.  W.  Sikes,  Ph.D. 

A.  W.  Cooke,  A.M.,  LL.B.  C.  Alphonso  Smith,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 

G.  H.  CoRNELSON,  A.M.,  D.D.  Charles  M.  Stedman,  A.B. 

D.  I.  Craige,  D.D.  Zebulon  V.  Taylor 

O.  B.  Eaton  J.  H.  Thornwell,  D.D. 

Adelaide  L.  Fries,  A.M.  S.  B.  Turrentine,  A.M.,  D.D. 

Geo.  a.  Grimsley,  A.M.  William  I.  Underwood 

MarshallDeLanceyHavwood  S.  B.  Weeks,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

John  S.  Henderson,  LL.D.  Geo.  T.  Winston,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Maxcy  L.  John,  Ph.B. 


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ROBERT   WASHINGTON   ALLISON 


fHE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina,  on  the  24th  day  of  April,  1809. 
His  father  was  William  Allison  and  his  mother 
Margaret  Young.  His  grandfather,  Robert 
Allison,  married  Sarah  Graham,  sister  of  Gen- 
eral Joseph  and  George  Graham  of  Revolution- 
ary fame,  so  that  on  both  sides  of  the  house  he  was  descended 
from  a  noble,  liberty-loving  people. 

Left  fatherless  at  the  tender  age  of  seven,  he  went  to  live  with 
his  Grandmother  Allison  at  Poplar  Tent,  Cabarrus  County,  North 
Carolina.  It  was  under  the  fostering  care  and  strong,  resolute 
will  of  this  noble  type  of  womanhood  that  he  developed  the  self- 
reliance,  courage  and  strength  of  character  which  brought  him 
in  later  years  ample  means  and  wide  influence  and  caused  him  to  be 
known  as  "the  foremost  man  of  Cabarrus." 

Mr.  Allison  was  a  cultured,  educated.  Christian  gentleman, 
fitted  both  by  nature  and  grace  to  adorn  any  sphere  either  in 
church  or  state.  A  man  of  sterling  integrity,  irreproachable 
character,  unswerving  in  fidelity  to  duty,  honest  and  upright  in 
all  his  dealings,  kind-hearted  and  generous,  faithful  to  every 
trust,  pure  in  life,  chaste  in  thought  and  guarded  in  speech,  he  is 
eminently  worthy  of  being  embraced  among  those  who  have  con- 
tributed to  the  progress  of  the  State. 

Other  men  may  perchance  have  written  their  name  higher  upon 


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NORTH  CAROLINA 


the  page  of  fame,  but  none  deeper  in  the  hearts  of  their  friends 
nor  more  legible  in  the  '*Lamb's  Book  of  Life."  Others  may  have 
been  more  famous,  none  more  useful;  and  while  there  are  few 
great  deeds  to  record,  as  the  world  counts  greatness,  few  have 
accomplished  more  lasting  good  or  died  more  revered.  Like 
David,  he  served  well  his  day  and  generation,  and  when  "he  fell 
on  sleep,"  "devout  men  carried  him  to  his  burial  and  made 
lamentation  over  him." 

Mr.  Allison  was  a  self-made  man.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
left  school  and  entered  the  store  of  his  uncle,  Joseph  Young,  at 
Concord,  North  Carolina,  where  by  his  diligence,  promptness, 
honest  dealing  and  faithfulness  he  continued  to  rise  until  he  not 
only  owned  the  store,  but  also  accumulated  large  property  inter- 
ests. His  fortune  represented  to  him  honest  money,  "no  specula- 
tion, nor  turn  or  twist  of  hand,  but  the  increase  of  capital  honestly 
made  and  cared  for." 

While  engaged  in  merchandising,  he  did  not  neglect  his  mind, 
but  improved  his  leisure  moments  by  storing  his  memory  with 
useful  information  that  in  later  years  made  him  such  a  charming 
and  instructive  conversationalist.  Always  literary  in  his  taste, 
as  increasing  means  afforded  opportunity,  histories  and  standard 
works  became  his  companions.  Quoting  dates  and  facts  with 
accuracy,  he  soon  became  the  oracle  of  the  community.  His 
opinion  was  eagerly  sought  for  and  taken  on  any  subject.  While 
not  a  practitioner,  he  possessed  superior  legal  talent,  which  was 
always  used  in  the  interest  of  truth.  Gifted  with  a  logical  and 
analytical  mind,  he  thought  clearly.  At  a  glance  he  would  strip 
a  question  of  its  tinsel  and  verbiage  and  seize  upon  the  point  at 
issue.  Eminently  practical  in  his  conclusions,  tender  and  sym- 
pathizing in  heart,  he  became  the  safe  counsellor  of  the  widow 
and  orphan,  and  so  careful  was  he  in  statement  that  he  never  had 
to  retreat  from  an  opinion  es^pressed. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  1842,  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  life, 
Mr.  Allison  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Sarah  Ann  Phifer, 
daughter  of  John  Phifer  and  Esther  Fulenwider,  and  a 
member  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  families  in  the  county. 


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ROBERT  WASHINGTON  ALLISON 


To  this  union  there  were  bom  nine  children,  four  of  them  dying 
young.  The  five  who  lived  to  be  grown  were  Esther  Phifer, 
who  married  Captain  Samuel  Elliott  White  of  Fort  Mill,  South 
Carolina,  who  erected  the  first  monument  to  the  Women  of  the 
Confederacy  in  the  South,  and  the  only  monument  to  the  faithful 
slaves  in  the  world.  She  died  April  28,  1903,  leaving  her  husband 
and  one  child,  Grace  Allison,  wife  of  Colonel  Leroy  Springs  of 
Lancaster,  South  Carolina,  and  a  grandchild,  Elliott  White 
Springs. 

Rev.  Joseph  Young  Allison,  D.D.,  married  Sarah  Cave  DaVant 
of  Columbia,  South  Carolina.  Dr.  Allison  is  at  present  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Lake  Charles,  Louisiana.  They 
have  one  daughter,  Margaret  DaVant  Allison. 

John  Phifer  Allison,  State  senator  from  Cabarrus,  married 
Annie  Erwin  Craige  of  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  now  living  at 
Concord,  North  Carolina. 

Mary  Louise  Allison  died  January  8,  1879. 

Adeline  Elizabeth  Allison  married  Colonel  John  M.  White  of 
Fort  Mill,  South  Carolina,  who  died  in  1877.  She  married  in 
1891  Captain  J.  M.  Odell  of  Concord,  North  Carolina,  where  she 
at  present  resides. 

Mr.  Allison  had  an  ideal  home.  His  wife  proved  to  be  a  help- 
meet indeed,  the  embodiment  of  all  that  was  good,  pure  and  ele- 
vating. The  heart  of  her  husband  safely  trusted  in  her,  and  her 
children  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed.  She  was  literally  eyes  to 
the  blind,  feet  to  the  lame,  and  abounded  in  good  deeds.  She  died 
February  23,  1889,  after  forty-seven  years  of  wedded  bliss. 

The  hospitality  of  this  house  was  unbounded.  A  large,  roomy 
house,  the  latch-string  hung  on  the  outside  and  a  warm  welcome 
awaited  you  within.  It  was  a  "Bethany"  where  niany  a  tired 
preacher  turned  aside  to  rest  a  while.  For  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century  the  writer  went  in  and  out  at  will,  and  cherishes  with 
affection  the  memory  of  this  home  as  one  of  the  dearest  spots  on 
earth  to  him.  It  was  the  "trysting  place"  of  the  young.  Their 
secrets  were  safely  guarded,  their  happiness  consulted,  their 
pleasures  encouraged  and  their  confidence  sweetly  won.    To  see 


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NORTH  CAROLINA 


him  surrounded  by  his  nieces,  nephews  and  their  friends,  with 
his  face  wreathed  in  smiles,  no  wonder  he  was  the  idol  of  their 
hearts. 

In  his  home  life  he  was  simple  in  his  tastes  and  regular  in  his 
liabits.  When  twenty-five  years  of  age,  his  physician  said  he 
would  not  live  a  year,  but  by  an  active  out-of-door  life,  dieting, 
horseback  riding  and  tremendous  will  power,  he  became  physically 
as  well  as  mentally  and  morally  strong,  outliving  his  physician  and 
all  the  friends  of  his  youth. 

After  retiring  from  business,  as  a  pastime  he  overlooked  his 
farm,  and  was  rated  as  the  best  farmer  in  the  county,  and  to  the 
day  of  his.  death  always  had  the  first  bale  of  cotton  on  the  market. 
He  was  a  man  of  method  and  system,  and  regulated  his  affairs, 
both  public  and  private,  accordingly.  He  had  a  place  for  every- 
thing and  everything  in  its  place.  He  could  lay  his  hand  on  any 
paper,  book  or  writing  either  in  his  office  or  at  home.  For  over 
forty  years  he  kept  a  daily  recoi;d  of  the  weather,  and  could  tell 
of  any  specially  unseasonable  days  in  two-score  years. 

In  intercourse  with  his  fellow-man  his  word  was  his  bond.  He 
dealt  in  nothing  but  truth  and  honesty.  To  give  Mr.  Allison 
as  authority  for  any  statement  was  to  conclude  the  matter. 

Modest  as  a  maiden,  retiring  and  shrinking  in  disposition,  Mr. 
Allison  shunned  prominence.  Notoriety  in  any  form  was  abhor- 
rent to  his  sensitive  disposition.  Against  his  protest,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  North  Carolina  in  1865 
and  1866.  Without  making  a  canvass,  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  in  1875.  Such  was  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens,  that  although  never 
a  seeker  of  office,  for  years  he  was  clerk  and  master  of  equity 
in  Cabarrus  County,  and  for  many  years  chairman  of  County 
Commissioners.  From  1870  to  1874  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Davidson  College.  For  a  half  a  century 
he  was  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Concord,  North  Caro- 
lina. Until  the  beginning  of  the  war  between  the  States  he  was  a 
Whig  in  politics,  a  Democrat  afterwards.  He  was  introduced  to 
Andrew  Jackson  in  1833  in  the  White  House  at  Washington,  and 


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ROBERT  WASHINGTON  ALLISON 


was  by  him  appointed  postmaster  at  Concord.  A  scene  he  loved 
to  relate  was  what  he  saw  on  a  visit  to  the  State  Constitutional 
Convention  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  1829.  There  were  seated 
on  the  platform  James  Madison,  James  Monroe,  ex-Presidents  of 
the  United  States;  John  Marshall,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States,  and  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  the  noted  orator  of 
Virginia. 

Mr.  Allison  died  at  Concord,  North  Carolina,  September  21, 
1898,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-nine.  Although  many  years 
past  the  allotted  time  to  man,  by  reason  of  strength  his  bow  still 
abode  in  strength  and  his  eye  was  not  dim.  His  was  age  without 
its  infirmities.  To  the  last  his  hearing  was  distinct,  his  mind 
dear,  his  memory  active,  his  hope  bright  and  his  faith  assured. 
"Like  a  shock  of  com  fully  ripe,  he  was  gathered  into  the  gamer." 

Mr.  Allison  connected  himself  early  in  life  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  adorned  the  profession  he  made.  There  have  lived 
few,  if  any,  better  Christians  than  Mr.  Allison.  "He  lived  his 
religion,  and  his  example  was  for  Christ  and  the  church." 

Rev.  W.  C.  Alexander  and  Rev.  C.  F.  Rankin  conducted  the 
funeral  services,  and  on  the  22d  day  of  September,  1898,  as  the 
sun  was  setting,  he  was  planted  away  in  the  cemetery  of  the  First 
Presb\^erian  Church  to  await  the  Resurrection  mom. 

On  his  tomb  one  might  write,  "Faithful  unto  death,"  and  above 
it,  "The  hand  of  faith  could  confidently  carve  a  crown." 

/.  H,  Thornwell. 


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JOHN    PHIFER  ALLISON 

(HE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Concord, 
the  county  seat  of  Cabarrus  County,  North 
Carolina,  the  22d  day  of  August,  1848.  A  long 
line  of  illustrious  ancestry  preceded  him  in  his 
native  county.  A  sketch  of  his  father,  Mr. 
R.  W.  Allison,  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work. 
In  the  line  of  his  maternal  ancestry  the  following  names  are  worthy 
of  note:  The  Hon.  Matthew  Locke,  member  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  at  Hillsboro  in  1775  and  also  of  the  Congress  at  Halifax 
in  1776,  member  of  the  legislature  for  twelve  years,  and  also 
member  for  six  years  of  the  United  States  Congress;  Martin 
Phifer,  member  of  the  legislature  prior  to  and  after  the  war  of 
the  Revolution;  and  Martin  Phifer,  Jr.,  colonel  in  the  war  of 
the  Revolution. 

Mr.  Allison's  father,  familiarly  known  as  "Squire  Allison,"  was 
for  many  years  the  most  honored  and  venerated  citizen.  His 
mother,  Mrs.  Sarah  Ann  Phifer  Allison,  was  not  only  esteemed 
as  a  model  wife  and  mother,  but  also  loved  by  all  who  knew  her 
as  a  true  '^mother  in  Israel."  Hence  that  splendid  heritage,  the 
best  that  earth  can  bestow  upon  any  of  her  sons,  a  pious,  cultured 
parentage,  has  been  the  position  of  our  subject.  The  third  of 
nine  children  of  a  godly,  refined  Southern  home,  the  choicest 
environment  for  the  best  development  of  childhood,  youth  and 
young  manhood,  Mr.  Allison's  maturity  has  been  no  mockery  of 


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JOHN  PHIFER  ALLISON 


bis  birth  and  rearing,  for  his  character  stands  to-day,  in  the  prime 
of  his  powers,  the  natural  and  logical  fulfillment,  the  proper  fruit- 
age of  those  high  principles  of  life  which  he  must  have  breathed 
from  bis  earliest  moment. 

In  childhood  and  youth  a  delicate  state  of  health  barred  the 
young  life,  while  delighting  in  games  and  out-of-door  sports,  from 
the  more  vigorous  discipline  of  tasks  calling  for  steady,  severe 
manual  labor.  This  limitation  also  presented  difficulties  to  be 
overcome  in  the  acquirement  of  his  education.  But  in  this,  as  in 
so  many  other  respects,  Mr.  Allison  had  in  his  father  a  most 
valuable  exemplar,  for  from  him  he  learned  that  the  longest, 
happiest  and  most  useful  life  is  rarely  attained  by  those  upon 
whom  Dame  Nature  has  showered  her  choicest  physical  gifts,  but 
oftenest  by  those  who  wisely  treasure  and  use  what  she  has 
granted.  Mr.  R.  W.  Allison,  never  of  robust  health,  in  early  life 
even  frail,  attained  through  prudent  regard  for  his  physical  man, 
"high  thinking  and  simple  living,"  the  great  and  honored  age  of 
a  half  score  years  beyond  the  coveted  four-score — and  with 
faculties  unimpaired.  This  shining  example  has  not  been  granted 
in  vain  to  the  son,  and,  barring  accidents,  a  similar  crown  awaits 
him. 

The  high  schools  of  Concord  and  Bingham's  Military  School 
gave  their  discipline  in  the  arts  and  sciences  to  the  young  man 
until  having  decided,  entirely  through  personal  preference,  upon 
a  btisiness  career,  thus  following  his  father's  example,  he  pursued 
a  course  of  professional  study  at  the  Mercantile  College  of  Balti- 
more, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1867.  In  1869  he  entered 
upon  the  active  work  of  life  as  a  merchant,  taking  charge  of  the 
large  and  successful  business  of  general  merchandise  conducted 
by  his  father  for  over  forty  years,  and  which,  as  proprietor  and 
manager,  he  continued  with  signal  success  for  thirty  years  more. 
The  management  of  this  business  has  of  late  been  merged  into 
a  corporation,  by  which  Mr.  Allison  has  been  enabled  to  give 
more  of  his  thought  and  time  to  activities  more  congenial  certainly 
to  his  health  and  possibly  to  his  natural  tastes.  For  along  with 
his  mercantile  enterprise,  Mr.   Allison  soon  discovered   in  his 


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8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

nature  a  deep  love  for  the  land  as  the  true  foundation  of  a 
country's  prosperity  and  happiness.  In  his  father,  again,  he  had 
an  inspiring  example,  and  parallel  to  and  harmonizing  with  his 
career  as  a  merchant  has  been  his  career  as  a  planter  of  that  pro- 
gressive type  which  furnishes  the  model  and  inspiration  of  every 
agricultural  community.  His  influence  by  counsel  and  example 
has  been  forceful  and  prevailing  in  delivering  his  fellow-farmers 
from  the  bondage  of  the  one-crop  idea  to  the  independence  and 
success  of  diversified  farming.  It  is  as  planter,  possibly,  that 
Mr.  Allison  exerts  his  widest  influence  among  his  fellow-citizens. 
For  even  as  merchant  he  studied  and  fostered  the  interests  and 
trade  of  the  farmer  more  than  of  any  other  class,  his  customers 
relying  much  upon  his  judgment  on  fertilizers,  machinery  and 
methods  of  agriculture.  As  a  safe  leader,  his  advice  is  sought  and 
accepted  eagerly,  for  the  thoughtful  recognize  that  it  is  bom  of 
a  practical  and  successful  experience. 

Mr.  Allison,  while  sternly  maintaining  the  wisdom  of  diversified 
crops  for  the  South,  claims  that  cotton  is  king  of  the  crops  of 
our  Southland,  and  must  be  so  recognized  by  both  our  agricultural 
and  manufacturing  industries,  without  permitting  that  rule,  how- 
ever, to  degenerate  to  a  despotism.  With  well-defined,  advanced 
but  sound  views  upon  the  industrial  welfare  of  our  whole  land, 
he  has  given  unselfishly  of  his  time,  thought  and  means  to  the 
organization  and  establishment  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Growers' 
Protective  Association,  and  was  for  four  years  its  watchful  and 
active  secretary  and  treasurer.  As  an  influential  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Company,  he  further 
evinces  his  open-eyed,  progressive  consideration  of  the  South's 
greatest  material  interests. 

As  a  sound  financier,  Mr.  Allison's  ability  is  widely  and  vari- 
ously confessed  and  employed  in  the  position  he  holds,  or  has 
held,  in  the  following  successful  enterprises:  president  of  the 
Cabarrus  Land,  Lumber  and  Mining  Company;  president  for 
eight  years  of  the  Concord  Building  and  Loan  Association; 
director  from  1893  to  1897  and  on  the  Finance  Committee  from 
1893  to  1897,  and  on  the  Finance  Committee  from  1893  ^^  1899 


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JOHN  PHIFER  ALLISON 


of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company;  and  director  of  the 
Concord  National  Bank,  the  Gibson  Cotton  Mill  Company,  the 
White,  Morrison,  Howe  Company  and  the  Brown  Manufacturing 
Company. 

As  chairman  of  County  Commissioners  for  two  years  and  as 
State  senator  for  a  like  term,  Mr.  Allison  has  served  the  civic 
welfare  of  his  community  and  State  with  laudable  fidelity  and 
marked  executive  and  legislative  ability.  A  fellow-senator  re- 
marked upon  the  close  of  his  term  in  the  Senate  that  as  member 
of  several  most  important  committees  no  one  had  rendered  his 
State  better,  service  during  that  time.  He  has  been  unswerving  in 
his  identification  with  the  Democratic  Party. 

Mr.  Allison  was  married  October  5,  1880,  to  Miss  Annie  Erwin 
Craige,  youngest  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Burton  Craige  of  Salis- 
bury, North  Carolina,  who  has  been  to  him  "an  helpmeet  indeed," 
a  hearty  sympathizer  in  his  every  word  and  work.  Mrs.  Allison 
is  a  cultured  woman,  endowed  with  a  charm  of  manner  which  has 
made  her  a  social  favorite.  She  is  a  prominent  leader  of  the 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  a  member  both  of  the  North  Caro- 
Kna  Society  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America  and  of  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  Mr.  Allison  was  for 
several  years  president  of  the  New  South  Club,  the  social  organi- 
zation of  the  men  of  Concord.  Both  are  members  and  loyal 
supporters  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

As  a  man  Mr.  Allison  is  a  well-poised,  symmetrical,  manly  per- 
sonality. The  soul  of  honor,  his  ideals  in  all  the  walks  of  his 
varied,  active  life  are  the  highest.  Generous  and  sympathetic  in 
his  every  attitude  toward  his  fellow-man,  he  is  loved  and  honored 
by  all  who  know  him.  In  temperament,  wisely  conservative,  in 
judgment,  cool  and  deliberate,  he  never  permits  the  impulse  of 
the  moment  to  sway  his  action  or  thought.  His  heart  is  tender 
and  unselfish,  counting  nothing  human  alien  to  it.  His  com- 
munity is  proud  of  him,  and  owns  his  life  and  character  an  inspira- 
tion to  noble  thought  and  rich  achievement. 

George  H.  Cornelson. 


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ALBERT    ANDERSON 


fLBERT  ANDERSON  of  Wilson,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  one  of  the  prominent  physicians  of 
Eastern  North  Carolina,  presents  a  career  which 
will  be  studied  with  interest  by  those  who  are 
seeking  to  find  successful  men  who  have  man- 
fully overcome  early  disadvantages  and  forged 
their  way  to  places  in  the  front  rank  of  the  men  of  their  day  and 
times.  He  was  born  of  respectable  but  poor  parentage,  on  a  small 
farm  at  Eagle  Rock,  in  Wake  County,  North  Carolina,  on 
October  i8,  1859,  ^^^  ^s  the  son  of  Jesse  and  Mary  Anderson. 
In  the  years  of  his  early  life  he  was  of  rather  delicate  healthy 
and  it  appears  likely  that  his  continuing  to  do  work  on  the  farm 
until  the  age  of  nineteen  was  in  the  end  a  blessing,  for  to-day 
he  is  a  strong  and  vigorous  man,  with  both  energy  and  physique 
to  accomplish  great  things.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  boy  plowed 
and  hoed  and  worked  at  the  usual  manual  labor  that  boys  perform 
on  small  farms  in  North  Carolina,  went  to  school  a  few  months 
in  each  year,  stopping  off  for  ** foddering  time,"  and  whenever 
else  he  was  badly  needed  at  home,  fished  and  fought  as  occasion 
demanded,  laughed  and  played  with  the  other  boys  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, but  all  the  time  fired  with  a  secret  belief  that  his  time 
was  not  yet  come,  that  it  would  come,  and  that  when  it  did  come 
he  would  become  an  educated,  cultured  man,  and  would  go  into 
the  great  world  beyond  the  confines  of  the  little  farm  and  become 


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ALBERT  ANDERSON  ii 

an  active,  vital  part  of  what  he  only  caught  glimpses  of  in  his 
boyish  imagination.  The  vital  influence  the  years  of  hard  manual 
work  had  in  shaping  his  future  and  developing  his  character  may 
well  be  considered  when  the  doctor  himself  says  that  it  wielded 
a  more  potent  influence  than  even  his  college  contact  in  later 
years.  Leaving  the  farm  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  spent  some 
time  at  the  Raleigh  Male  Academy,  and  later  entered  Trinity 
College.  Here  he  came  under  the  benign  and  most  splendid 
educational  influence  which  in  writing  the  biographies  of  North 
Carolinians  will  not  be  effaced  for  a  century  to  come,  the  personal 
influence  of  Dr.  Braxton  Craven,  the  noble  founder  of  Trinity, 
and  the  man  whose  grandest  tribute  in  history  will  be  the  inspira- 
tions he  gave  to  struggling,  ambitious  young  men. 

At  Trinity  College  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the  young  man, 
who  was  working  between  recitations  in  part  to  help  pay  his 
expenses,  stood  well  in  the  classes;  suffice  to  say  his  record  was 
one  of  the  best,  and  in  1883  he  graduated  from  Trinity  with  the 
d^;ree  of  M.A.  The  inspiration  of  the  now  sainted  Craven  must 
have  been  felt  in  the  direction  the  young  man  turned,  helping 
others  in  firmly  getting  their  feet  in  the  educational  path  he  had 
with  such  vigor  essayed  to  find,  for  the  next  four  years  he  was 
principal  of  the  Middleburg  Male  Academy  at  Middleburg,  North 
Carolina.  Here,  in  addition  to  his  duties  as  principal  and  chief 
instructor,  he  found  time  to  delve  further  into  his  scientific  studies, 
and  fascinated  with  the  study  of  pure  science,  and  filled  with 
delight  at  the  prospect  of  being  able  as  a  physician  to  help  others 
daily  in  life,  he  began  the  study  of  medicine.  So  thoroughly  did 
he  cover  the  medical  course,  while  instructing  the  boys  at  Middle- 
burg, that  after  only  one  year's  study  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  its  excellent  medical  school,  he  went  up  for  the  final ' 
examinations  with  the  graduating  class,  and  this  he  did  suc- 
cessfully; and  a  few  weeks  later  also  passed  successfully  the 
examinations  of  the  North  Carolina  State  Board  of  Medical 
Examiners. 

Shortly  afterward  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
at  Wilson,  North  Carolina,  where  he  now  resides.    During  this 


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12  NORTH  CAROLINA 

same  year,  December  12,  1888,  he  wedded  Miss  Pattie  R.  Wood- 
ard,  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  Governor  Charles  B.  Aycock,  who 
has  ever  been  to  him  a  royal  helpmate.  No  children  have  blessed 
this  union,  but  a  more  devoted  couple  does  not  live  in  North 
Carolina. 

In  1889  Dr.  Anderson  attended  a  course  of  post-graduate  in- 
struction for  some  months  at  the  New  York  Polyclinic,  and  in 
1892  he  was  appointed  by  the  North  Carolina  State  Board  of 
Health  to  attend  a  special  course  offered  by  the  United  States 
Government  to  State  Boards  of  Health,  who  were  empowered  to 
nominate  two  of  their  best  men.  In  1896  Governor  Russell 
appointed  Dr.  Anderson  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Health, 
a  position  he  filled  with  honor  to  the  State  and  credit  to  himself 
for  several  years.  The  organized  profession  of  the  State  have  at 
various  times  shown  their  kindly  appreciation  of  his  work  in 
behalf  of  scientific  medicine,  for  in  addition  to  having  held  various 
minor  positions  in  the  State  Medical  Society,  he  was  in  1898 
the  annual  orator,  and  the  same  year  he  was  elected  for  a  term 
of  four  years  a  member  of  the  State  Medical  Examining  Board, 
and  he  has  performed  the  arduous  duties  of  that  position  so  well 
as  to  reflect  great  credit  upon  the  judgment  of  the  society  in 
placing  the  important  trust  upon  him. 

He  was  also  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Seaboard  Medi- 
cal Association  and  its  president  in  1902.  At  the  session  of  the 
State  Medical  Society  at  Hot  Springs,  North  Carolina,  in  1902, 
he  was  one  of  the  chief  supporters  of  the  plan  for  revising  the 
constitution  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  making  the  County  Medical  Society  in  each  county  the 
basal  unit  of  organization,  and  requiring  that  all  gentlemen  of 
the  profession  desiring  membership  in  the  State  Society  should 
be  enrolled  members  of  their  home  County  Medical  Society.  He 
presented  a  strong  paper  in  advocacy  of  the  new  plan,  and  ren- 
dered valuable  assistance  to  the  committee  having  the  matter  in 
charge,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  revised  constitution 
unanimously  adopted.  The  new  constitution  adopted,  its  pro- 
moters sought  to  find  ten  active,  leading  physicians  who  had  the 


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ALBERT  ANDERSON  13 

confidence  of  the  profession  in  their  respective  sections  of  the 
State  to  act  as  councillors,  and  Dr.  Anderson  was  unanimously 
elected  councillor  for  the  Fourth  District,  composed  of  the  eight 
counties  nearest  him.  Actuated  solely  by  his  love  for  the  inter- 
ests of  his  profession,  he  visited  each  of  these  counties  during  the 
following  few  months,  and  successfully  organized  a  county 
medical  society  in  each  one  of  them.  At  the  1904  session  of  the 
State  Society  his  work  was  commended,  and  he  was  unanimously 
re-elected  councillor.  In  1903  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Delegates  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  in 
1903  and  1904  represented  the  State  Medical  Society  in  the 
National  Association,  this  State  having  only  two  delegates  in  that 
body  as  representatives  of  the  North  Carolina  profession.  His 
genius  for  organizing  has  been  well  illustrated  in  the  development 
of  the  Wilson  Sanatorium,  an  institution  founded  by  him  and 
Dr.  C.  E.  Moore  of  Wilson,  in  1898,  for  the  treatment  of  acute 
medical  and  surgical  cases.  Established  in  a  small  town  where 
there  had  never  been  a  public  hospital  before,  and  with  the  tra- 
ditional objections  of  many  to  overcome,  the  institution  has  been 
a  success  from  the  beginning,  and  is  a  credit  to  the  accomplished 
staff  as  well  as  to  the  town  of  Wilson. 

In  his  political  affiliation  Dr.  Anderson  has  always  voted  the 
straight  principles  to  steer  the  ship  of  state  aright  at  all  times. 

His  experience  with  fraternal  societies  has  been  a  limited  one, 
he  being  a  member  only  of  the  Junior  Order,  United  American 
Mechanics.  In  his  religious  professions  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  under  the  shelter  of  his 
handsome  home  (one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  Wilson)  the  way- 
faring Methodist  preacher  is  always  assured  of  a  hearty  welcome 
and  a  persistent  invitation  to  prolong  his  stay. 

Dr.  Anderson  is  a  tall  and  rather  stoutly  well-built  man,  clean 
shaven  and  with  an  appearance  almost  clerical,  both  in  his  quiet 
garb  and  sober  look.  A  man  of  great  energy  and  indomitable  will 
power,  none  who  come  under  the  spell  of  his  splendid  personality 
wonder  at  his  success  in  life,  the  cause  of  which  he  once  summed 
up  in  one  word,  "persistency."  /.  Howell  Way. 


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WILLIAM   CARTER   BAIN 

[MONG  the  North  CaroHnians  who  in  a  quiet 
way  have  achieved  distinction  and  aided  in  the 
upbuilding  and  advancement  of  their  communi- 
ties, none  deserve  more  recognition  than 
William  Carter  Bain  of  Greensboro.  He 
belongs  to  that  class  of  men  who,  unaided  and 
by  their  efforts,  have  overcome  all  obstacles  that  stood  in  the 
pathway  to  success.  Coming  to  maturity  at  a  time  when  North 
Carolina  was  dormant  in  the  industrial  world,  and  without  the 
advantages  that  come  with  special  privileges,  he  set  to  work  with 
a  brave  heart  and  willing  hands  to  carve  his  own  way  to  fortune. 
His  success  should  prove  an  inspiration  to  any  youth  who  craves 
the  title  "Captain  of  Industry." 

Mr.  Bain  was  born  in  Guilford  County,  near  the  village  of 
Liberty,  on  January  8,  1839,  being  the  son  of  Jonathan  and  Lydia 
Carter  Bain.  His  grandfather,  John  Bain,  was  one  of  seven 
brothers  who  came  to  America  from  Ireland  in  1760.  While  yet 
a  mere  lad,  Mr.  Bain  exhibited  a  taste  for  mechanics,  and  when 
quite  young  he  began  to  learn  a  trade.  He  served  an  apprentice- 
ship in  carriage  and  wagon  making  for  four  years,  working  four- 
teen hours  a  day.  During  the  early  period  of  his  life  the  sterling 
qualities  of  industry  and  strict  sobriety  were  firmly  established 
in  his  character. 

Circumstances  were  such  as  to  deprive  Mr.  Bain  of  the  best 


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PUBLIC  UBRAR 


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WILLIAM  CARTER  BAIN  15 

educational  advantages,  but  by  industry  and  economy  he  managed 
by  the  time  he  attained  his  majority  to  save  a  sufficient  sum  of 
money  to  defray  his  expenses  at  a  good  school.  About  this  time 
the  clouds  of  civil  war  broke  over  the  country,  and,  responding 
to  his  State's  call,  he  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  Confederacy. 
He  was  sergeant  of  Company  G,  Forty-sixth  North  Carolina 
Regiment,  from  1862  to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  participated 
in  many  of  the  manceuvers  and  battles  0/  Lee's  army.  Although 
in  the  thick  of  many  bloody  fights,  he  was  never  wounded.  He 
was  not  so  fortunate  in  escaping  capture  and  imprisonment.  He 
was  first  captured  in  Maryland,  on  September  13,  1862,  and  im- 
prisoned at  Fort  Delaware.  After  a  month  or  two  he  was  paroled, 
and  later  he  was  exchanged  and  returned  to  his  company.  He 
was  next  made  a  prisoner  of  war  on  April  i,  1865,  when  he  was 
taken  to  Point  Lookout,  Mar>'land,  and  held  until  June  25th, 
nearly  three  months  after  the  war  had  ended. 

Upon  his  return  from  the  war,  Mr.  Bain  joined  his  brother  in 
the  manufacture  of  carriages  and  wagons.  About  1875  he  em- 
barked in  the  business  of  a  contractor  and  builder  of  houses.  He 
began  in  a  modest  way,  always  studying  how  to  improve  and 
advance  his  art.  To-day  he  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  leaders, 
in  his  line  of  business  in  the  South.  Some  of  the  more  notable 
buildings  Mr.  Bain  has  erected  are  the  following:  Residences 
of  L.  Banks  Holt  at  Graham,  J.  S.  Carr  at  Durham,  W.  C.  Powell 
at  Wake  Forest  and  R.  B.  Raney  at  Raleigh ;  Carolina  and  Howard 
hotels  at  Pinehurst,  the  Holt-Morgan  Cotton  Mills  at  Fayetteville, 
the  Oneida  Cotton  Mills  at  Graham,  the  State  Normal  and  In- 
dustrial College  dormitories  at  Greensboro,  the  agricultural  build- 
ing of  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic 
Arts  at  Raleigh,  the  Wachovia  Loan  and  Trust  Company  build- 
ing at  High  Point  and  the  City  National  Bank  and  the  Carnegie 
Library  buildings  at  Greensboro.  All  of  these  are  up-to-date  and 
substantial  structures  of  architectural  beauty. 

In  addition  to  looking  after  his  extensive  business  as  a  con- 
tractor and  builder,  Mr.  Bain  has  found  time  to  devote  to  affairs 
in  other  lines.    He  organized  and  is  president  of  the  Greensboro 


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i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Wood  Fiber  Plaster  Company,  and  is  also  president  of  the  Central 
Carolina  Construction  Company,  which  absorbed  his  individual 
interests  as  a  contractor  and  builder.  Mr.  Bain  has  established 
and  operates  a  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  artificial  stone  in 
various  shapes  and  sizes  for  any  and  all  kinds  of  building  purposes. 

Mr.  Bain  finds  relaxation  and  interest  in  operating  a  model  farm 
of  200  acres,  situated  in  the  suburbs  of  Greensboro,  where  he 
spends  a  portion  of  the^  time  he  can  take  from  his  diversified 
business  interests. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  with  strong  prohibition  prin- 
ciples. During  his  residence  in  Greensboro  he  has  been  prom- 
inently identified  with  all  the  contests  that  have  arisen  over  the 
liquor  question,  and  his  work  in  behalf  of  temperance  has  been  so 
effective  that  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  influential  leaders 
of  the  moral  forces.  He  is  a  leading  member  of  Grace  Methodist 
Protestant  Church,  Greensboro,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  the 
affairs  of  that  denomination,  having  been  an  official  member  of 
his  church  for  a  number  of  years. 

On  December  19,  1861,  Mr.  Bain  married  Mary  A.  Lane,  a 
daughter  of  Alfred  K.  Lane  and  Polly  Coble  Lane,  natives  of 
Randolph  County.  They  have  had  ten  children,  of  whom  six  are 
now  living. 

William  I.  Underwood, 


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ANDREW    BALFOUR 


f  HOUGH  slain  while  upholding  the  rights  of 
America,  his  adopted  home,  Andrew  Balfour 
was  a  Scotchman,  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  and 
son  of  a  merchant  of  that  city  who  also  bore 
the  name  Andrew  Balfour.  He  set  sail  from 
Greenock,  Scotland,  6n  the  20th  of  May,  1772, 
and  arrived  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  on  the  i8th  of  July.  In 
his  old  home  he  had  met  with  business  reverses,  and  sought  to 
retrieve  his  fortunes  in  the  New  World.  His  first  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Janet  McCormick,  he  left  in  Scotland,  intending 
to  send  for  her  later,  but  she  died  on  June  17,  1773,  leaving  an 
infant  daughter,  Tibbie,  who  was  later  brought  to  America  and 
lived  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  for  a  while,  but  afterward 
joined  her  father.  Balfour's  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Dayton 
of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  Andrew  and  a 
daughter  Margaret.  He  also  had  a  sister  Margaret  and  a  brother 
John  Balfour,  who  was  a  merchant  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
John  Balfour  of  Charleston  left  three  children,  Nancy,  Margaret 
("Peggy")  and  Andrew. 

After  engaging  in  business  in  the  Northern  colonies  without 
success,  Andrew  Balfour,  subject  of  this  sketch,  lived  for  a  while 
in  South  Carolina,  engaged  in  making  salt,  and  later  still  (about 
1778)  came  to  North  Carolina,  making  his  home  in  Rowan  County. 
When  the  county  of  Randolph  was  established  out  of  parts  of 


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i8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Rowan  and  Guilford,  he  was  elected  one  of  its  first  representatives 
in  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Commons  in  1780.  He  was  also 
commissioned  colonel  of  State  troops.  He  was  a  man  of  superior 
intelligence,  a  man  of  nerve,  character  and  standing.  In  1780  he 
was  captured  by  a  band  of  marauding  Tories,  but  a  party  of 
Whigs  soon  embodied  and  attacked  and  dispersed  his  captors  and 
released  him.  In  the  partisan  warfare  of  the  period  Colonel  Bal- 
four was  an  active  participant,  and  on  several  occasions  com- 
manded detachments  in  the  field.  David  Fanning,  in  his  narra- 
tive, says  it  was  the  boast  of  Balfour  that  there  should  be  no  rest- 
ing place  for  a  Tory's  foot  upon  the  earth.  On  March  10,  1782, 
when  Fanning's  forces  were  scouring  the  Haw  River  country, 
that  daring  leader  surrounded  Balfour's  house  and  killed  him  in 
the  presence  of  his  sister  Margaret  and  Tibby,  the  daughter  of 
his  first  marriage.  The  second  wife  of  Colonel  Balfour  had  not 
then  come  to  North  Carolina.  In  a  letter  written  about  six  months 
after  the  event  to  Mrs.  Balfour,  then  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
Margaret  Balfour  says :  "On  the  loth  of  March  about  twenty-five 
armed  ruffians  came  to  the  house  with  the  intention  to  kill  my 
brother.  Tibby  and  I  endeavored  to  prevent  them,  but  it  was  all 
in  vain.  The  wretches  cut  and  bruised  us  both  a  great  deal,  and 
dragged  us  from  the  dear  man.  Then  before  our  eyes,  the  worthless, 
base,  horrible  Fanning  shot  a  bullet  into  his  head,  which  soon 
put  a  period  to  the  life  of  the  best  of  men  and  most  affectionate 
and  dutiful  husband,  father,  son  and  brother.  The  sight  was  so 
shocking  that  it  is  impossible  for  tongue  to  express  anything  like 
our  feelings;  but  the  barbarians,  not  in  the  least  touched  by  our 
anguish,  drove  us  out  of  the  house  and  took  everything  they  could 
carry  off,  except  the  negroes,  who  happened  to  be  all  from  home 
at  the  time.  It  being  Sunday,  never  were  creatures  in  more  dis- 
tress. We  were  left  in  a  strange  country,  naked,  without  money, 
and  what  was  a  thousand  times  worse,  we  had  lost  forever  a  near 
and  dear  relative." 

All  of  the  above  sketch  is  based  upon  an  account  of  Colonel 
Balfour  in  Caruthers's  "Old  North  State  in  1776."  From  the  same 
source  we  learn  that  bills  of  indictment  were  found  against  Fan- 


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ANDREW  BALFOUR  19 

ning  and  one  Frederick  Smith,  charging  them  with  the  murder 
of  Colonel  Balfour.  Fanning  was  never  apprehended,  but  Smith 
was  hanged  in  the  spring  of  1783.  Two  Frederick  Smiths  were 
lietitenants  under  Fanning — one  from  Chatham  and  one  from 
Randolph.    It  was  the  latter  who  was  executed. 

Colonel  Balfour's  widow  later  came  to  North  Carolina  from 
Rhode  Island.  In  a  note  by  Governor  Swain  to  Fanning's  Narra- 
tive wc  find  the  following  brief  account  of  the  family  of  Colonel 
Balfour:  "His  widow,  who  came  to  North  Carolina  after  his 
death,  December,  1784,  was  much  respected,  and  held  the  office 
of  postmaster  at  Salisbury  until  1825,  discharging  its  duties  with 
great  fidelity  and  acceptability.  Her  son  Andrew  married  Mary 
Hcnly  and  had  nine  children,  five  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  of 
whom  removed  to  the  West  except  Mrs.  Eliza  Drake,  wife  of 
Colonel  Drake  of  Asheboro.  His  daughter  Tibby  married  John 
Troy,  who  had  three  children — ^John  Balfour  Troy,  now  of  Ran- 
dolph County;  Margaret,  who  died  in  Davidson  County  in  1813, 
and  Rachel,  who  married  Lewis  Beard,  now  in  the  West.  His 
third  and  remaining  child,  Margaret,  married  Hudson  Hughes 
of  Salisbury,  who  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  married 
Samuel  Reeves  of  Salisbury." 

As  has  already  been  noted,  Tibby  Balfour  was  a  daughter  of 
Colonel  Balfour's  first  marriage,  while  all  of  his  other  children 
were  by  his  second  wife,  whom  he  married  after  coming  to 
America. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood, 


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GEORGE   W.   BROOKS 

[EORGE  W.  BROOKS,  a  judge  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  North  Carolina,  was  a 
native  of  Pasquotank  County,  North  Carolina, 
where  he  was  born  on  March  i6,  1821.  His 
ancestors,  having  originally  located  in  Virginia, 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Albemarle. 
His  father  was  William  C.  Brooks,  who,  bom  in  Gates  County, 
eventually  became  a  large  merchant  at  Elizabeth  City,  where  he 
was  greatly  esteemed.  He  married  Mrs.  Catherine  B.  Knox,  the 
widow  of  Captain  Hugh  Knox,  whose  maiden  name  was  Davis, 
her  ancestors  being  among  the  first  Who  settled  in  Pasquotank 
County,  and  who  for  several  generations  were  prominent  in  their 
community. 

In  his  youth  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  strong,  robust 
boy,  but  not  active  nor  fond  of  the  customary  sports  of  the  young. 
He  received  his  early  education  at  Belvidere,  in  Perquimans 
County,  at  an  academy  which  the  Society  of  Friends  had  estab- 
lished there  and  which  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  institution. 
His  circumstances  in  life  did  not  permit  him  to  obtain  a  collegiate 
education,  but  with  great  determination  he  overcame  the  difficulties 
that  attended  his  situation,  and  studied  law,  receiving  his  license 
to  practice  in  the  county  courts  in  1844,  and  two  years  later  he 
passed  his  examination  for  Superior  Court  license.  His  appear- 
ance was  unprepossessing,  and  he  was  slow  and  almost  painfully 


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GEORGE  W.  BROOKS  21 

awkward  because  of  his  diffidence  and  embarrassment.  But  he 
bad  the  spirit  to  endure,  and  he  had  resolved  to  succeed  at  every 
personal  cost.  He  was  pertinacious,  painstaking  and  studious, 
so  that  although  his  entrance  into  the  bar  was  anything  but 
brilliant,  yet  he  soon  attracted  favorable  attention,  and  the  numer- 
ous friends  of  his  parents  manifested  their  regard  for  him  by 
giving  him  their  countenance  and  support.  Through  their  aid 
he  soon  obtained  business  in  the  courts,  and  by  his  own  industry 
and  attention  to  the  affairs  of  his  clients  he  speedily  established 
himself  in  their  confidence,  and  drew  to  himself  a  lucrative  prac- 
tice. It  has  been  said  that  he  was  penniless  when  he  came  to  the 
bar,  but  in  fifteen  years  he  had  accumulated  a  large  estate,  which 
was  admitted  by  all  to  have  been  justly  and  honorably  acquired. 

On  the  20th  of  June,  1850,  he  was  happily  married  to  Margaret 
Costin,  a  daughter  of  James  Costin  of  Gates  County,  who  bore 
him  five  children,  and  under  the  stimulus  of  her  affectionate  sym- 
pathy he  redoubled  his  efforts  to  succeed  at  the  bar  and  to  attain 
a  high  position  among  the  purest  and  best  of  his  community.  As 
was  usual  at  that  period,  investments  were  made  chiefly  in  land 
and  negroes,  and  as  Mr.  Brooks  amassed  means  he  purchased 
quite  a  number  of  slaves,  nearly  all  of  whom,  however,  were 
bought  at  their  request,  as  they  feared  they  might  fall  under  the 
dominion  of  a  less  kind  master ;  for  there  was  much  of  the  milk 
of  human  kindness  in  the  nature  of  Judge  Brooks.  No  one  had  a 
temper  so  little  disposed  to  oppress  or  to  be  unjust  in  his  dealings 
with  any  one;  and  but  few  men  had  a  more  tender  nature  or  a 
heart  so  S3rmpathetic  toward  the  unfortunate. 

The  feeling  among  the  Quakers  in  Eastern  Carolina  had  long 
been  unfriendly  to  African  slavery,  and  among  many  of  the  slave- 
holders in  their  vicinity  it  came  to  be  thought  that  sooner  or  later, 
as  the  institution  of  slavery  was  repugnant  to  the  general  trend 
of  the  world's  progress  and  enlightened  sentiment,  the  system  of 
servitude  in  vogue  at  the  South  would  be  abolished  and  property 
in  the  labor  of  a  fellow-man  would  cease.  Judge  Brooks  became 
deeply  imbued  with  that  idea,  and  some  years  prior  to  1861  he 
predicted  that  emancipation  would  be  the  result  of  the  agitation 


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22  NORTH  CAROLINA 

that  had  been  so  violent  since  1834,  and  he  ceased  making  pur- 
chases of  slaves.  His  views  on  this  subject  were  avowed  in  public, 
and  were  so  distasteful  to  the  other  slave-holders  in  his  section 
that  they  indulged  in  very  severe  criticisms  of  his  course  in  that 
respect,  and  many  of  his  personal  and  warmest  friends  frequently 
remonstrated  with  him  against  his  giving  utterance  to  opinions 
so  widely  at  variance  with  the  sentiments  of  his  community.  He, 
however,  never  yielded  his  right  to  express  his  opinions  about 
matters  of  public  concern,  and  while  he  made  no  public  addresses 
on  the  subject,  yet  neither  private  remonstrance  nor  the  clamor 
of  those  who  were  not  his  intimates  ever  influenced  him  to  refrain 
from  expressing  his  views. 

From  youth  he  was  a  firm  adherent  of  the  Whig  Party,  and 
early  in  his  career,  in  the  year  1852,  there  being  apprehensions 
that  the  Whig  Party  in  his  county  would  be  divided  into  two 
warring  factions,  in  order  to  heal  the  breach  he  consented  to  accept 
the  nomination  for  the  legislature.  Being  successful  at  the  polls, 
he  served  with  great  acceptability  to  his  constituents,  but  he 
refused  to  accept  the  nomination  for  a  second  term,  and  declined 
to  become  a  prominent  figure  in  the  political  strife  of  his  com- 
munity. 

Being  a  Whig,  and  with  his  views  with  regard  to  slavery,  he 
was  inclined  to  look  with  greater  favor  on  the  course  of  the 
Northern  people  in  i860  and  1861  than  most  of  his  neighbors  did, 
and  his  Union  sentiments  remained  unchanged  even  when  hostili- 
ties began  between  the  sections.  He  avowed  his  Union  senti- 
ments and  his  expectation  that  the  South  would  be  unable  to 
achieve  her  independence ;  but  he  did  not  throw  himself  so  defiantly 
in  opposition  to  his  friends  and  neighbors  as  to  arouse  their  antag- 
onism. He  lived  during  the  war  peacefully  at  home,  remaining 
always  convinced  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Union  army,  but 
he  never  failed  in  his  kindnesses  to  those  who  were  in  distress, 
and  was  always  ready  to  help  and  succor  the  unfortunate  and 
needy  without  regard  to  their  loyalty  to  the  Federal  Government. 
His  conduct  was  ever  based  on  a  spirit  of  charity  and  governed  by 
practical  benevolence. 


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GEORGE  W.  BROOKS  23 

When  President  Johnson  issued  his  proclamation  in  1865  that 
North  Carolina  was  restored  to  the  Union,  and  Governor  Holden 
was  appointed  provisional  governor  of  the  State,  and  Chief  Justice 
Chase  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  recognized 
North  Carolina  as  being  again  a  State  in  the  Union,  holding  the 
Federal  Court  in  her  borders,  the  President,  in  August,  1865, 
appointed  Judge  Brooks  Judge  of  the  District  Court  of  United 
States  for  the  District  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  Senate  confirmed 
his  appointment  in  January,  1866;  and  he  exercised  the  functions 
of  his  office  in  this  State.  However,  he  accepted  the  position  of 
delegate  to  the  convention  of  1865  and  1866,  which  was  convened 
to  adjust  the  constitution  of  North  Carolina  to  the  new  condition 
of  things,  and  he  was  an  influential  member  of  that  body. 

The  services  of  Judge  Brooks  in  the  Federal  Court  were  ardu- 
ous and  severe.  At  that  time  the  State  had  not  been  subdivided 
into  several  districts,  and  there  was  much  litigation  in  the  Federal 
Court  between  citizens  of  other  States  and  of  North  Carolina, 
oftentimes  rising  to  high  importance.  In  addition,  there  was  a 
multitude  of  cases  growing  out  of  bankruptcy  proceedings,  while 
the  criminal  docket  was  long  and  very  tedious  to  dispose  of.  Be- 
ginning with  1866,  Judge  Brooks  was  subjected  to  a  heavy  ordeal 
in  attending  to  the  large  business  that  devolved  upon  him.  His 
duties  were  highly  important,  and  by  his  courtesy,  his  practical 
good  sense  and  his  desire  to  be  absolutely  fair  and  just  and  im- 
partial, he  won  the  highest  respect  and  the  entire  good  will  of 
the  members  of  the  bar,  nearly  all  of  whom  differed  from  him 
in  politics. 

In  addition  to  his  admirable  personal  and  judicial  conduct  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  the  administration  of  justice.  Judge  Brooks 
had  another  title  to  the  regard  and  good  will  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina.  It  fell  to  his  lot  to  have  the  unique  distinction 
of  having  rendered  great  service  to  the  citizens  of  the  State  in  the 
way  of  establishing  peace  and  order  at  a  period  when  public 
affairs  were  on  the  verge  of  a  bloody  war. 

An  election  was  to  be  held  for  members  of  the  legislature  about 
the  beginning  of  August,  1870.    Governor  Holden,  then  governor 


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24 NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  State,  had  caused  several  thousand  troops  to  be  embodied 
under  Colonel  George  W.  Kirk,  and  had  declared  the  counties  of 
Alamance  and  Caswell  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  and  had  author- 
ized Colonel  Kirk  to  arrest  prominent  citizens  in  those  and  in 
some  of  the  neighboring  counties.  On  the  15th  of  July,  about  a 
fortnight  before  the  election,  Colonel  Kirk  had  arrested  a  large 
number  of  the  most  influential  gentlemen  in  that  section  of  the 
State.  On  the  i6th  of  July  an  application  was  made  to  Chief 
Justice  Pearson  for  a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  which  was  granted. 
When  the  writ  was  served  on  Colonel  Kirk  he  said,  "Tell  them 
such  things  are  played  out.  I  have  my  orders  from  Governor 
Holden  and  shall  not  obey  the  writ.  I  will  surrender  them  on 
Governor  Holden's  orders,  but  not  otherwise,  unless  they  send  a 
sufficient  force  to  whip  me."  Judge  Pearson,  on  the  return  of 
this  writ,  communicated  with  Governor  Holden  the  fact  that 
Colonel  Kirk  claimed  that  he  was  acting  under  the  gov- 
ernor's orders,  and  desired  to  know  if  that  was  so;  where- 
upon the  governor  replied  that  the  arrests  were  made  by 
his  order,  and  that  "Colonel  Kirk  now  detains  the  prisoners  by 
my  order." 

Judge  Pearson  later  and  in  subsequent  proceedings  directed  that 
the  writ  should  issue  with  instructions  to  exhibit  it  to  the  governor, 
and  "if  the  governor  orders  the  petitioner  to  be  delivered  to  the 
marshal,  well;  if  not,  I  have  discharged  my  duty;  the  power  of 
the  judiciary  is  exhausted  and  the  responsibility  must  rest  on 
the  executive."  As  was  expected,  the  governor  paid  no  attention 
to  the  writ,  but  proceeded  to  hasten  the  organization  of  a  military 
court  to  try  the  arrested  persons  by  court  martial. 

Finding  that  no  relief  could  be  had  from  the  judicial  author- 
ities of  the  State,  the  eminent  gentlemen  who  had  appeared  for 
the  detained  citizens.  Governor  Bragg,  Judge  Battle,  Judge  Merri- 
mon  and  the  venerable  B.  F.  Moore,  with  whom,  indeed,  were 
associated  other  lawyers  of  the  first  distinction  in  the  State,  be- 
lieved it  incumbent  on  them  to  exert  all  their  influence  to  prevent 
a  rising  of  the  people,  embracing  a  large  number  of  the  Confed- 
erate veterans  who  had  returned  to  their  homes,  and  their  em- 


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GEORGE  W.  BROOKS  25 

bodying  and  destro3dng  Colonel  Kirk's  force  and  rescuing  the 
prisoners.  To  that  end  these  gentlemen  exercised  their  strongest 
influence;  and  at  their  instance,  in  order  to  suppress  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  people  to  right  their  wrongs  with  force  and  power, 
they  procured  General  M.  W.  Ransom  to  make  a  hasty  visit  to 
Judge  Brooks,  then  at  his  home  in  Elizabeth  City,  and  apply  to 
him  to  take  cognizance  of  the  matter  on  a  petition  of  Habeas 
Corpus.  Never  before  had  there  been  an  application  to  a  Federal 
judge  invoking  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  citizens  of  the  State  from  the  arbitrary  exercise 
of  despotic  power  on  the  part  of  the  State  governor.  It  was  what 
was  called  a  case  of  the  first  impression.  Judge  Brooks,  having 
concluded  that  it  was  his  duty  to  grant  the  writ,  with  that  fear- 
lessness which  had  ever  been  a  characteristic  of  his  quiet  but 
determined  nature,  at  once  did  so,  and  made  it  returnable  before 
him  at  Salisbury.  When  his  action  became  known  he  was  roundly 
denounced  by  the  State  authorities  for  interfering  in  a  matter  in 
which  he  had  no  jurisdiction ;  but  nevertheless  he  proceeded  as  a 
just  and  fearless  judge  to  execute  the  law  as  he  understood  it. 
When  it  was  found  that  he  could  not  be  swayed  by  denunciations, 
the  governor  hastened  to  order  the  prisoners  to  be  brought  before 
Chief  Justice  Pearson,  who  hurried  with  great  speed  to  the  State 
Capitol  to  resume  consideration  of  the  questions  involved  in  the 
Habeas  Corpus  proceedings  that  had  been  begun  before  him,  and 
been  interrupted  when  the  judiciary  became  exhausted ;  but  it  was 
too  late  for  that.  The  distinguished  and  eminent  lawyers  who  had 
invoked  the  power  of  Judge  Brooks  now  informed  the  chief  justice 
that  the  petitioners  withdrew  their  proceedings  from  before  him ; 
and  they  sought  their  liberty  from  the  judge  of  the  District  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Colonel  Kirk  prayed  for  some  delay  that 
he  might  present  the  causes  for  the  arrest  and  detention  of  his 
prisoners,  and  Judge  Brooks  granted  him  reasonable  time  for 
that  purpose,  at  the  end  of  which,  there  being  no  suggestion  of 
any  cause  whatever  for  the  arrest  of  any  one  of  the  prisoners,  no 
offense  or  crime  being  imputed  to  any  one  of  them.  Judge  Brooks 
ordered  their  enlargement,  and  thus  was  put  an  end  to  a  matter 


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26  NORTH  CAROLINA 

that  at  one  time  threatened  most  seriously  to  involve  the  whole 
State  in  bloodshed  and  civil  war. 

For  his  action  in  this  matter  there  were  bestowed  on  Judge 
Brooks  the  highest  encomiums  from  a  large  majority  of  the 
citizens  of  the  State.  The  prisoners  exulted  in  their  liberty,  and 
a  shout  of  triumph  went  up  from  the  people.  The  judge  received 
an  ovation  seldom  accorded  to  any  occupant  of  the  bench,  and  at 
the  time  no  honor  would  have  been  too  great  for  the  State  to  lay 
at  his  feet. 

On  his  return  to  his  home  in  Elizabeth  City,  men  of  all  parties 
awaited  him,  and  in  a  public  demonstration  sought  to  manifest 
their  great  approbation  of  his  action.  They  expressed  in  a  public 
assemblage  their  earnest  and  grateful  appreciation  of  his  fidelity 
in  enforcing  the  law.  Indeed,  as  has  been  said,  "No  conquering 
hero  returning  from  the  field  of  victory  could  have  received  greater 
applause.  It  was  regarded  as  a  triumph  of  the  law  and  of  justice 
over  misrule  and  oppression." 

Although  these  manifestations  of  public  approval  were  grateful 
to  the  heart  of  Judge  Brooks,  his  even  and  moderate  course  in 
life  was  in  no  wise  affected  by  them.  Quiet,  composed,  sympa- 
thetic and  kindly,  he  continued  to  exercise  his  judicial  functions, 
ever  tempering  justice  with  mercy  in  administering  the  harsh 
criminal  laws  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  always  regarded 
as  an  honor  to  the  bench,  until  at  length,  on  the  6th  of  January, 
1882,  he  passed  away,  greatly  lamented  by  the  entire  State. 

5*.  A.  Ashe. 


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THOMAS   BURKE 


I  HE  ablest  advocate  and  completest  orator  our 
country  affords"  is  the  compliment  to  Governor 
Burke  which  we  find  expressed  in  a  letter 
written  in  July,  1781,  by  Samuel  Strudwick, 
who  was  a  very  competent  judge. 

Thomas  Burke,  a  native  of  Galway,  in  Ire- 
land, was  bom  about  the  year  1747.  He  left  his  native  country 
on  account  of  some  family  quarrel,  the  nature  of  which  is  not  now 
known.  He  was  the  son  of  Ulick  Burke,  whose  wife,  Letitia  Ould, 
was  a  sister  of  Sir  Fielding  Ould.  The  particular  branch  of  the 
ancient  and  numerous  family  to  which  he  belonged  was  known 
as  the  Burkes  of  Tyaquin,  and  Governor  Burke,  after  his  removal 
to  America,  mentioned  that  his  father's  estate  of  that  name  had 
descended  lineally  in  the  Burke  family  from  the  time  of  Henry  H. 
Thomas  Burke  came  to  America  before  reaching  manhood  and 
settled  in  Virginia,  where  he  at  first  practiced  medicine.  Finding 
this  calling  unprofitable.  Dr.  Burke  resolved  to  study  law,  and 
soon  attained  high  station  at  the  bar.  He  resided  for  a  while 
in  Norfolk.  At  the  latter  place  he  was  married  to  Mary  Freeman 
in  1770.  The  only  child  of  this  marriage  was  a  daughter,  Mary 
Burke,  who  lived  to  extreme  old  age  and  died  unmarried  in 
Alabama  after  the  close  of  the  war  between  the  States. 

It  was  about  the  year  1772  that  Thomas  Burke  removed  with 
his  wife  to  North  Carolina.    He  took  up  his  residence  a  few  miles 


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28  NORTH  CAROLINA 

from  Hillsboro,  in  Orange  County.  His  new  estate  he  called 
Tyaquin,  after  his  family's  seat  in  Ireland.  Being  strongly  im- 
bued with  the  principles  of  Republicanism,  he  became  one  of  the 
party  leaders  of  North  Carolina  during  the  Revolution,  and  filled 
many  of  the  highest  offices  within  the  gift  of  the  people.  He  was 
a  delegate  from  Orange  County  to  the  Provincial  Congresses  of 
1775  and  1776.  On  May  13,  1776,  the  Congress  at  Halifax  elected 
him  paymaster  of  North  Carolina  militia  for  the  district  of  Hills- 
boro, but  this  post  he  resigned  on  his  election  as  a  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  Nathaniel  Rochester  was  elected  to 
succeed  him. 

In  December,  1776,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  his  associates  being  William  Hooper  and  Joseph  Hewes, 
who  with  Penn  had  been  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. When  Burke  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  the  scene  of  war 
was  beginning  to  shift  to  that  vicinity,  and  less  than  a  year  later 
he  was  present  in  person  as  a  volunteer  officer  at  the  battle  of 
Brandy  wine  on  September  11,  1777.  On  this  field  he  was  con- 
vinced that  the  defeat  of  the  Americans  was  due  in  a  large 
measure  to  the  inefficiency  of  General  John  Sullivan,  and  pre- 
ferred charges  against  that  officer  in  the  Continental  Congress. 
Sullivan  made  a  spirited  reply,  and  the  recriminations  between 
himself  and  Burke  caused  a  challenge  from  the  latter,  though 
I  am  unable  to  ascertain  that  a  meeting  ever  resulted.  Burke 
returned  to  Tyaquin,  his  seat  near  Hillsboro,  in  October,  1777. 

Dr.  Burke  was  re-elected  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress 
on  April  28,  1777.  Toward  the  end  of  the  same  year,  on  Decem- 
ber ist,  he  also  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina 
House  of  Commons,  having  been  elected  to  fill  the  unexpired 
term  of  Nathaniel  Rochester,  who  had  resigned  to  become  clerk 
of  the  court  in  Orange  County.  In  1777  the  county  of  Burke  was 
erected  and  named  in  his  honor. 

On  August  12,  1778,  Dr.  Burke  was  again  elected  a  member 
of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  returned  to  Philadelphia  on 
the  9th  of  December  in  the  same  year.  He  and  his  colleague, 
Whitmel  Hill,  seem  to  have  turned  over,  the  social  cares  of  the 


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THOMAS  BURKE  29 


city  to  another  member  of  the  North  Carolina  delegation,  for  in 
a  letter  to  Governor  Caswell  on  December  20,  1778,  Burke  says: 
"The  city  is  a  scene  of  gayety  and  dissipation — ^public  assemblies 
every  fortnight  and  private  balls  every  night.  In  all  such  business 
as  this  we  propose  that  Mr.  Penn  shall  represent  the  whole  State." 

On  May  8,  1779,  the  legislature  elected  Burke  one  of  the 
trustees  of  Granville  Hall,  an  institution  of  learning  in  the  county 
of  Granville.  On  the  25th  of  October,  1779,  Dr.  Burke  and  Whit- 
mel  Hill  were  invited  to  attend  the  State  Senate  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and,  upon  appearing  before  that  body,  the  speaker.  General 
Allen  Jones,  formally  thanked  them  in  the  name  of  the  Assembly 
for  their  long  and  faithful  service  in  the  Continental  Congress. 
They  were  also  thanked  on  behalf  of  the  House  of  Commons  by 
Speaker  Benbury.  On  the  same  day  they  were  re-elected  dele- 
gates to  the  Continental  Congress. 

It  was  on  June  26,  1781,  that  Burke  became  governor  of  North 
Carolina  by  election  of  the  General  Assembly,  which  then  sat  at 
Wake  Court  House,  where  the  city  of  Raleigh  now  stands.  In  his 
new  ofRce  Governor  Burke  devoted  his  energies  to  arming  and 
equipping  the  troops  of  the  State,  thinking  that  Comwallis  might 
attempt  to  retreat  through  North  Carolina,  in  which  event  a  strong 
force  would  be  needed  to  check  his  progress.  But  Burke's  own 
official  career  was  destined  to  be  temporarily  interrupted  from 
an  unexpected  quarter.  The  daring  Tory  partisan.  Colonel  David 
Fanning,  had  formed  a  resolution  to  capture  the  governor,  and 
soon  put  his  plan  into  execution.  About  daybreak  on  the  13th  of 
September,  1781,  after  a  forced  march,  the  Tories  reached  Hills- 
boro,  where  the  governor  had  his  headquarters,  and  entered  the 
town  from  three  different  directions.  In  the  volume  entitled 
**Fanning's  Narrative"  it  is  claimed  that  the  Tories  lost  only  one 
man,  while  they  killed  fifteen  of  the  American  party,  wounded 
many  and  took  more  than  200  prisoners,  among  the  latter  being 
Governor  Burke,  members  of  his  council  and  personal  staff,  and 
likewise  some  Continental  officers.  The  attacking  party  next  pro- 
ceeded to  the  jail  and  liberated  thirty  military  prisoners,  one  of 
whom  was  to  have  been  hanged  on  that  day.    Notwithstanding  the 


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30  NORTH  CAROLINA 

overwhelming  number  of  Tories  which  invested  the  town,  Gov- 
ernor Burke  and  the  occupants  of  the  l)ouse  where  he  lodged  made 
a  spirited  resistance.  With  him  were  his  aide,  Captain  Reid; 
his  secretary,  John  Huske,  and  an  orderly  sergeant  in  the  Con- 
tinental service  whose  name  is  not  given.  These  gentlemen, 
though  only  armed  with  their  swords  and  pistols,  kept  the  assail- 
ants at  bay  until  Captain  Reid  broke  through  the  smoke  and  re- 
turned, accompanied  by  an  officer  in  British  uniform,  who  gave 
the  governor's  party  assurances  of  protection  and  received  their 
surrender.  Then  the  Tories  had  a  long  and  hazardous  march  of 
many  miles  with  their  prisoners,  whom  they  carried  to  Wilming- 
ton. Two  days  after  they  left  Hillsboro  an  action  took  place  at 
Lindley's  Mill,  where  General  John  Butler  of  Orange  County 
waylaid  them  and  at  the  first  fire  killed  eight  of  Fanning's  men, 
including  Colonel  Hector  McNeill.  Fanning  then  charged  the 
Americans,  and  lost  twenty-seven  killed  and  sixty  so  badly 
wounded  that  they  could  not  be  carried  from  the  field,  also  himself 
having  his  left  arm  shattered  by  a  musket  ball.  The  American 
prisoners,  however,  were  not  rescued,  but  hurriedly  marched 
toward  Wilmington,  Governor  Burke  being  under  the  immediate 
care  of  a  Highlander  who  bore  the  creditable  sobriquet  of  '* Sober 
John"  McLean.  "Sober  John"  made  his  home  after  the  war  near 
Bluff  Church,  on  the  Lower  Cape  Fear.  The  Tories  and  their 
prisoners  were  soon  met  by  re-enforcements  from  Wilmington, 
and  landed  their  prisoners  safely  in  that  town,  which  was  then  held 
by  the  British.  From  Wilmington  Governor  Burke  and  his  party 
were  carried  to  Fort  Arbuthnot,on  Sullivan's  Island,  near  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina.  Here  he  was  closely  confined  until  the  6th  of 
November,  when  he  was  paroled  to  James  Island  near  by.  While 
at  James  Island,  Governor  Burke  was  an  object  of  persecution  by 
many  Tories  who  had  refugeed  to  that  place.  More  than  once 
he  was  fired  at,  and  on  one  occasion  a  friend  was  shot  dead  by  his 
side,  while  another  was  badly  wounded.  General  Leslie  was  will- 
ing to  extend  his  parole  to  North  Carolina,  but  Major  Craig 
(afterward  governor-general  of  Canada)  insisted  that  he  should 
be  held  as  a  hostage  for  the  safety  of  Fanning  and  other  Tories  who 


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THOMAS  BURKE  31 


might  be  captured  in  North  Carolina.  As  the  dangers  of  assassina- 
tion daily  increased,  Governor  Burke  determined  to  make  his 
escape  from  James  Island,  regardless  of  his  parole.  This  he  did 
on  the  i6th  of  January,  1782.  On  reaching  the  American  lines, 
Burke  at  once  wrote  a  letter  to  General  Leslie,  in  which  he  said : 
"I  do  not  intend  to  deprive  you  of  the  advantage  which  my  capture 
would  by  the  rights  of  war  entitle  you.  ...  I  will  endeavor  to 
procure  for  you  a  just  and  reasonable  equivalent  in  exchange  for 
me ;  or,  if  that  cannot  be  effected,  I  will  return  within  your  lines 
on  parole,  provided  you  will  pledge  your  honor  that  I  shall  not 
be  treated  in  any  manner  different  from  officers  of  the  Continental 
army  when  prisoners  of  war." 

The  character  of  Governor  Burke  was  fiercely  assailed  not  only 
by  the  British,  but  by  many  Americans,  for  his  course  in  leaving 
James  Island  while  imder  parole.  And  the  censure  became  more 
justified  when,  on  his  return  to  North  Carolina,  he  resumed  his 
duties  as  governor  before  any  exchange  was  effected.  As  soon  as 
the  Assembly  met,  Burke's  term  having  expired,  he  did  not  stand 
for  re-election,  but  requested  that  body  to  elect  some  one  to  suc- 
ceed him  as  governor,  which  was  accordingly  done  on  the  22d  of 
April,  1782,  when  Alexander  Martin  was  elected  to  that  office.  A 
few  days  later  the  speakers  of  the  two  Houses  of  Assembly  were 
ordered  by  that  body  to  wait  upon  Governor  Burke  and  return 
the  thanks  of  the  Assembly  for  the  acceptable  manner  in  which 
he  had  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office. 

Governor  Burke  did  not  long  survive  his  retirement  from  office, 
but  died  on  the  2d  of  December,  1783,  at  Tyaquin,  his  plantation 
in  Orange.  In  personal  appearance,  as  described  by  his  daughter 
(heretofore  mentioned),  he  was  "of  middle  stature,  well  formed 
and  much  marked  by  the  smallpox,  which  occasioned  the  loss  of 
his  left  eye,  the  remaining  one  being  a  fine,  expressive  blue."  He 
was  a  Roman  Catholic  in  religion,  yet  held  office  under  the  old 
State  constitution,  which  provided  that  no  person  should  be 
eligible  to  any  position  of  honor  and  trust  who  should  (among 
other  disqualifying  things)  "deny  the  truth  of  the  Protestant 
religion."    Probably  he  was  like  Judge  Gaston — ^believed  in  all  the 


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32  NORTH  CAROLINA 

truths  of  the  Protestant  religion,  but  believed  a  good  deal  more 
besides.  Like  his  compatriot,  Governor  Alexander  Martin,  he 
courted  the  Muses,  and  some  of  his  verses  are  still  preserved. 
This  latter  talent,  however,  he  did  not  cultivate  to  any  extent. 
In  one  of  his  letters  he  says :  "I  have  lisped  in  numbers ;  but  I  took 
all  possible  care  to  conceal  my  propensity,  having  always  dreaded 
the  idle  character  of  a  rhymer."  He  was  "sudden  and  quick  in 
quarrel,"  and  there  are  letters  extant  showing  that  some  corre- 
spondence occurred  between  himself  and  General  John  Sullivan, 
also  with  Colonel  Henry  Lee,  looking  to  the  settlement  of  differ- 
ences by  the  code  duello.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  also  intimates 
that  distance  alone  prevented  him  from  calling  General  Otho 
Holland  Williams  to  account  for  that  officer's  views  about  the 
violation  of  Burke's  parole.  How  the  Sullivan  matter  ended  I 
am  unable  to  ascertain.  The  affair  with  Colonel  Lee  was  adjusted 
through  the  instrumentality  of  General  Anthony  Wayne.  Burke's 
temper  was  also  the  cause  of  some  abusive  language  to  a  mes- 
senger of  the  Continental  Congress,  who  summoned  him  late  at 
night  to  attend  a  meeting  of  that  body ;  and  Congress  conceiving 
itself  affronted  in  the  person  of  its  messenger,  sent  charges  against 
Burke  to  the  legislature  of  North  Carolina.  But  Burke  was  upheld 
by  the  legislature,  and  he  afterward  wrote  to  President  Laurens, 
disavowing  any  disrespect  to  Congress  as  a  body. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywo&d. 


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THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ASTCH,  LCNOX  A'-'O 
TILDLW  FOVNDA'i  I  -\^-'3 


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(yx^^cyv^       /2.<-o^ 


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WILLIAM    PRESTON    IJVNUM 

ILLIAM  PRKST(JX  I.VXLM  o(  Cliarl-ntr,  a 
Ia\vy('r  of  (li>tnnli.»n  ami  fornurly  a  jiustiic  of 
the  Supreme  (Joiirt  of  tiic  Staie,  was  bom 
Juno  1 6,  1820,  in  the  county  of  Stoke^,  on  Dan 
Rivci,  where  liis  father,  ifrtniplon  i'ynuiu, 
•  )wne<l  a  lai;^''*^  lande^l  prop^.it^'. 
lianipt^'n  Ijvnum  was  the  s«.n  r>t  ('iray  I'^num  and  Mar- 
.:.  ;'%'n.  sister  i  i\v'  <  l-.ivr  Ci-'neral  Wale  ll'aniptr,n  au'l 
'..:  r-jnfrdoratc  v'avalry  loader  atvl  S-.'Uth  Carolina  S'*n.ti'>r. 
•.-.  .iS  a  ciaui^hter  of  C«>l«'nci  John  Martin  of  l\evc>]utinnary 
'-••(•rninc:  whom  the  ♦'Ider  Haniih«-«n  C  Jones  of  Sali-hnry 
y.'  t.'  \\  h<'t-ler'b  '*Hist(.r)  of  Xoifh  CaroHna"  a  lu.^'^t 
.'.'   ^'  •  *ch.     Thereni  Colonel   Martin   is  represiMited  as  a 

•  ■  iTK-r  to  the    rorics  of  the  1  >an   ki\er  seeti^n,  an«l   .>f 

*  ai  «l  h''inor  in  times  of  peace.     Imvc  son<  w  re  horn  to 
n    LJ;  runn,  of  whom  the  sui)ieot  of  this  slcetcii  v\^4.^  iho 

n   '  • '-^t,   j'hii    Gray    Byn'nn,   hein^^   p'^rliaps   the    m.^st 

"  .n  of  Ins  ('.av. 

,  },  n'lm  tjra'i'iated  with  first  hor.ors  at  Davids.in  Cf.l\-i.^t' 

-    .  I  '.a»N  imder  Cliief  Justice  Pearsr  n.  settle<l  for  ];ractice 

'  ""I  'ton.  and  aftrr  his  m.:'*.  ...u' •  w'.h  Ann  h'Ji/a  Shi' :\ 

'     r  ;»artlt'tl  Shipp  aiid  si^trr  of  Jn^'^'e  W.  M.  S'lii^p.  re- 

1  '.-:     Intf.n,  where  the  uk  -idian  of  his  hl'r  was  pa><i'd 

hi-  p  .pie  were  stnnn.di  W  Ini^^s  in  p..liti--s,  aiv:  ar'ie'itly 


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C/-t^<yv^        '^^^'-''^, 


^/?  /?. 


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WILLIAM    PRLSTC^N    BVNLM 


ILLIAM   rRi'ST(.)X  LVXl'M  of  CharL.ttt 


a 


lawvcr  (.i  'listiiKlb'.n  an*l   furnnrly  a  jn.siire  of 

the    Suprt-me    Court    of    tiir    ^taU-,    was    born 

June  !''>.  1 8 JO.  in  the  count x-  c»t  Stokc^,  <n\  Dan 

Ri\<T,    wh'vT,*    \us    father,    H-'iMj^tm    I'yninii, 

ownc<l  a  laiLT'^  landed  prop«.itv. 

}i*-.nipif'n  liynum  was  the  si.n  ot  ( iray  i'^niim  and  Mar- 

I  •^  :N»n.  sister  rf  th*'  t'  h:r  (i-'neral  V/;»  le  J  !;u;]j';<%n  and 

•'..-  C-.nfr(ioratc  v'avalry  leadvT  and  S'-nth  Carolina  sen.i*'»r. 

V. .i>  a  (htnt^htt-r  of  C<<!<>nci  John  Martin  of  l\ev(»lLiti«mary 

"•crnin::  whom  the  «dder  Hainilt<~»n  C.  Jones  of  Sah-hni) 

::'-d    t.    \\  h^*«dvrr's  "History   of    Xoilh   Caroh'na''   a   ru.>^t 

!  .     ='  '-^  ii      Thereni  Colonel    Niartin   is  rej;rescn>ev!  <is  a 

iri.r  to  tilt'    rori{.s  of  the  Dan   River  seetiun.  an<l  wf 

*  ar  vi  Imnu  r  in  times  of  peaee.     hive  srjn<  w«  r*:  h'»rn  lo 

•^    [i;  Tp  m,  of  whom  the  siiijjeet  of  this  s!cet(  h   w  u    the 

•  -^   ^   \-t,   j'dm    Gray    Hyn'im,   hciiii;   jMTli.i[»?    the    n*..>t 

r  r\  of  !n>  day. 
*.  ''   nini  ;:rad'iated  with  fir.st  hi»m>rs  at  IXuid^on  C'  Mv-^m! 
'    .1  laA  under  Chief  Justiee  Pt-arso:!.  settled  f'>r  i)raetiee 


:t.'Ti.  and  aftrr  his 


•h  Ann  hJi/a 


f.arll«ni  Shipp  aiid  sister  of  Jiid'/.e  W.  M.  ^hijM^  re- 
•1     h]t«,n,  where  the  m<  rldian  '^f  his  ]i{,.  was  j):i».-d 
-  ;••  )ple  were  stanndi  \\  h':;s  in  p'  li-i's,  ai;  :  ar':<Mitly 


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I '  .  . 


>  .  / 


,/  ' 


/ 


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WILLIAM    PRESTON    BYNUM 

fILLIAM  PRESTON  BYNUM  of  Charlotte,  a 
lawyer  of  distinction  and  formerly  a  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  was  bom 
June  1 6,  1820,  in  the  county  of  Stokes,  oh  Dan 
River,  where  his  father,  Hampton  Bynum, 
owned  a  large  landed  property. 
This  Hampton  Bynum  was  the  son  of  Gray  Bynum  and  Mar- 
garet Hampton,  sister  of  the  elder  General  Wade  Hampton  and 
aunt  to  the  Confederate  cavalry  leader  and  South  Carolina  senator. ' 
His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Martin  of  Revolutionary 
fame,  concerning  whom  the  elder  Hamilton  C.  Jones  of  Salisbury 
contributed  to  Wheeler's  "History  of  North  Carolina"  a  most 
interesting  sketch.  Therein  Colonel  Martin  is  represented  as  a 
veritable  terror  to  the  Tories  of  the  Dan  River  section,  and  of 
great  wit  and  humor  in  times  of  peace.  Five  sons  were  bom  to 
Hampton  Bynum,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the 
third,  the  eldest,  John  Gray  Bynum,  being  perhaps  the  most 
brilliant  man  of  his  day. 

W.  P.  Bynum  graduated  with  first  honors  at  Davidson  College 
in  1843,  read  law  under  Chief  Justice  Pearson,  settled  for  practice 
in  Rutherfordton,  and  after  his  marriage  with  Ann  Eliza  Shipp, 
daughter  of  Bartlett  Shipp  and  sister  of  Judge  W.  M.  Shipp,  re- 
moved to  Lincolnton,  where  the  meridian  of  his  life  was  passed. 
He  and  his  people  were  staunch  Whigs  in  politics,  and  ardently 


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34  NORTH  CAROLINA 

hoped  that  the  difference  between  the  sections  might  be  amicably 
composed  and  the  Union  preserved.  But  when,  in  April,  1865,  the 
crisis  came,  he,  like  the  other  Union  Whigs  of  the  State,  recog- 
nized that  war  between  the  North  and  the  South  was  inevitable, 
and  promptly  he  responded  to  the  demand  of  President  Lincoln 
that  North  Carolina  should  furnish  troops  to  coerce  the  seceded 
States  by  taking  up  arms  in  defense  of  the  South. 

On  May  i,  1861,  Governor  Ellis  convened  the  legislature  in 
special  session,  and  on  that  same  day  a  State  convention  was  called, 
the  delegates  to  be  elected  on  May  13th ;  and  besides  the  volunteer 
regiments,  the  legislature  provided  for  the  organization  of  ten 
regiments  of  State  troops,  and  Governor  Ellis,  knowing  the  patri- 
otic purpose  and  disposition  of  Mr.  Bynum,  on  May  8th  com- 
missioned him  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  State 
troops.  The  State  was  not  only  then  in  the  Union,  but  the  dele- 
gates to  the  convention  had  not  then  been  elected ;  but  so  decided 
was  the  feeling  of  the  people,  that  the  former  Union  Whigs  and 
Secession  Democrats  alike  hastened  forward  in  the  common  cause. 

The  colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment  was  Colonel  C.  C.  Tew, 
a  very  efficient  officer,  and  the  regiment,  after  being  well  drilled 
at  Garysburg,  was  stationed  for  six  months  on  picket  duty  on 
the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  But  in  the  spring  of  1862,  after  New- 
Bern  had  fallen,  the  regiment  was  ordered  back  to  North  Carolina, 
where  it  remained  until  McClellan  approached  Richmond,  when 
it  was  hurried  to  the  defense  of  the  Confederate  capital. 

It  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  Mechanicsville,  Cold  Harbor, 
Malvern  Hill  and  Sharpsburg,  and  in  the  last-named  bloody  battle 
Colonel  C.  C.  Tew,  the  brave  and  accomplished  colonel  of  the 
regiment,  was  killed.  The  command  devolved  upon  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Bynum,  who  was  afterward  commissioned  as  colonel  by 
Governor  Vance  the  29th  of  October,  1862.  While  the  regiment 
was  in  winter  quarters  on  the  Potomac,  the  legislature  of  North 
Carolina  elected  Colonel  Bynum  solicitor  of  the  mountain  judicial 
district  of  the  State  in  March,  1863,  and,  accepting  the  office,  he 
resigned  his  commission  in  the  army,  and  the  command  devolved 
upon  the  gallant  Colonel  W.  R.  Cox.    At  that  period  the  duties 


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WILLIAM  PRESTON  BYNUM  35 

of  the  office  in  the  mountain  district  were  dangerous,  delicate  and 
difficult.  Great  dissensions  and  bitter  feelings  and  fatal  collisions 
constantly  took  place  between  the  friends  and  enemies  of  the  war, 
one  side  enforcing  conscription  and  the  other  side  resisting  it. 
Colonel  Bynum,  as  solicitor,  discharged  his  duties  without  fear 
and  without  favor,  and  so  highly  was  his  conduct  appreciated  that 
he  was  retained  in  that  position  for  a  period  of  eleven  years,  by 
consecutive  elections  and  appointments,  until  he  was  promoted  to 
the  Supreme  G)urt  bench. 

In  the  summer  of  1865,  W.  W.  Holden  was  appointed  pro- 
visional governor  of  the  State  by  President  Johnson,  and  on 
reorganizing  the  State  government  he  retained  Colonel  Bynum  as 
solicitor  for  his  district.  In  the  State  convention  which  met  in 
November,  1865,  Colonel  Bynum  was  chosen  by  the  people  to 
represent  the  county  of  Lincoln,  and  at  the  ensuing  election  for 
members  of  the  General  Assembly  he  was  again  chosen  by  the 
people  to  represent  the  counties  of  Lincoln  and  Catawba  in  the 
State  Senate. 

As  a  member  of  the  convention,  he  delivered  a  notable  speech 
upon  the  subject  of  the  Bases  of  Representation  in  the  Legislature, 
and  equalizing  it  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  part  of  the 
State.  In  the  course  of  subsequent  events  representation  was  dis- 
tributed by  the  convention  much  upon  the  lines  indicated  by  him. 

Supporting  Republican  measures,  he  advocated  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution  in  1868,  and  was  again  elected  solicitor  for  his 
district  by  the  people,  at  the  same  time  that  the  constitution  was 
ratified  by  the  popular  vote.  In  1871,  when  the  question  of  calling 
a  convention  to  reform  the  constitution  of  1868  in  some  par- 
ticulars was  submitted  to  the  people,  he  opposed  the  proposed 
measures,  and  the  opposition  to  it  was  successful.  During  these 
years  he  was  closely  associated  with  Governor  Caldwell  and  the 
leading  Republicans  of  the  State,  and  in  1873,  ^P^^  ^^e  death  of 
Judge  Boyden,  making  a  vacancy  in  the  Supreme  Court,  Governor 
Caldwell  appointed  him  an  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
On  the  bench  at  that  time  were  Chief  Justice  Pearson,  under  whom 
Judge  Bynum  had  studied  law;  Judges  Reade  and  Settle,  with 


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36  NORTH  CAROLINA 

whom  he  had  served  in  the  convention  of  1865,  and  Judge  Rod- 
man. As  strong  and  learned  as  those  judges  were,  Judge  Bynum 
was  at  once  received  by  them  as  their  equal  in  ability  and  pro- 
found learning. 

His  opinions  are  found  in  volumes  70  to  79  North  Carolina 
Reports,  inclusive,  and  rank  with  the  best  in  our  reports.  The 
general  verdict  of  the  Western  Bar  at  least  is  that  Judge  B3mum 
is  one  of  the  ablest  men  who  has  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the 
Supreme  Bench  since  the  war.  Chief  justices  have  expressed  this 
view,  and  a  careful  reading  of  his  opinions  will  tend  to  confirm 
the  estimate.  There  is  a  clearness  and  a  precision  in  his  written 
opinions  that  make  them  models,  and  they  are  marked  by  an 
absence  of  any  attempt  to  display  learning  by  unnecessary  dis- 
cussion in  stating  the  conclusions  of  the  court.  Many  of  his 
opinions  are  notable.  Witlkowsky  v.  Wasson,  71  North  Caro- 
lina, contains  a  noble  tribute  to  the  value  and  sphere  of  the  jury. 
State  V,  Dixon,  75  North  Carolina,  is  as  terse  an  exposition  of  the 
law  of  homicide  as  can  be  found.  Manning  v.  Manning,  79  North 
Carolina,  is  an  exquisite  piece  of  judicial  pleasantry,  while  solving 
a  difficult  problem  presented  then  for  the  first  time  in  our  history. 
In  the  construction  of  contracts,  all  of  Judge  Bynum's  opinions 
breathed  the  spirit  of  olden  times,  when  it  was  considered  dis- 
graceful not  to  pay  debt.  The  case  of  Belo  v,  the  Commissioners, 
in  which  he  announced  with  emphasis  as  the  proper  principle 
of  public  action  the  wise  doctrine  of  "pay  as  you  go,"  won  for  him 
merited  encomiums,  and  by  it  he  impressed  himself  largely  on  the 
policy  of  the  State. 

In  his  judicial  career  Judge  Bynum  bore  himself  in  a  lofty 
manner.  He  was  true  to  his  convictions  of  right  and  to  his  under- 
standing of  the  law.  On  occasions  he  entered  his  dissent  from 
the  judgment  of  his  associates  on  the  bench,  and  not  infrequently 
the  court  has  since  adopted  his  dissenting  opinions  as  the  law. 
Among  his  dissenting  opinions  was  that  filed  in  the  case  of  the 
State  V,  R.  and  D.  Railroad  Co.,  72  North  Carolina,  in  which 
he  refused  to  concur  in  the  validity  of  the  lease  of  the  North 
Carolina  Railroad,  and  denied  the  right  of  the  lessees  to  change 


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WILLIAM  PRESTON  BYNUM  37 

the  gauge  of  that  road.  As  an  illustration  of  his  fairness  and 
impartiality,  it  is  recalled  that  in  the  case  of  Brown  v.  Turner, 
relative  to  the  public  printing,  and  involving  the  question  of 
whether  the  public  printer  was  an  oflScer,  the  court  at  first  blush 
accepted  the  idea  that  as  there  were  public  duties  to  discharge, 
the  position  of  public  printer  was  an  office  and  could  be  filled 
only  by  the  appointment  of  the  governor.  The  contestants  were 
representatives  of  political  parties,  and  the  determination  of  the 
court  was  favorable  to  the  Republican  Party.  Judge  Bynum  was 
directed  to  write  the  opinion.  He  undertook  to  do  so,  but  in 
studying  the  case  with  that  view  he  came  to  a  different  conclusion, 
and  was  convinced  that  under  the  legislation  of  the  State  the 
public  printer  was  a  mere  contractor  and  not  an  officer  to  be 
appointed  by  the  executive  branch  of  the  government.  He  wrote 
his  opinion  accordingly,  and  was  sustained  in  it  by  the  chief 
justice  and  Justice  Rodman,  while  Judge  Reade  and  Judge  Settle 
filed  vigorous  dissenting  opinions.  And  so  in  all  other  cases  before 
the  court  Judge  Bynum  was  relied  on  to  do  exact  justice,  not 
being  swerved  in  any  degree  from  his  conviction  of  what  was  the 
law  and  justice. 

The  writer  of  this  is  permitted  to  quote  the  opinion  of  one  of 
the  leading  lawyers  of  the  State  in  regard  to  Judge  B)mum's  rank 
as  a  jurist:  "When  we  come  to  speak  of  Judge  B3mum's  judicial 
career,  it  is  there  he  excelled  himself.  He  was  appointed  to  the 
Supreme  Court  Bench  by  Govenlor  Caldwell,  who  succeeded  to 
the  governorship  on  the  impeachment  of  Governor  Holden.  Judge 
Bynum  held  office  from  November  21,  1873,  "^itil  the  expiration 
of  the  term.  He  served  about  four  years,  and  no  man  ever  brought 
to  the  performance  of  the  duties  devolved  upon  him  as  a  justice 
of  that  court  more  careful  consideratiorf  of  the  matters  which  were 
to  be  adjudicated  during  his  term  of  office. 

"North  Carolina  is  indebted  to  him  for  saving  its  credit,  and 
the  writer  heard  the  greatest  author  upon  Municipal  Bonds  in  the 
United  States  say,  in  the  argument  of  the  Wilkes  bond  case,  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  that  the  opinion  written 
by  Judge  Bynum  in  the  case  of  Belo  v.  Commissioners,  76  North 


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38  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Carolina  Reports,  concerning  the  law  of  Municipal  Bonds,  was 
never  excelled  by  any  justice  of  any  court  in  the  United  States. 
Indeed,  after  the  Stanly  bond  case  was  decided  against  the  bond- 
holders, it  was  upon  the  strength  of  this  opinicm  that  the  new 
hearing  was  granted.  The  principles  laid  down  in  the  opinion 
were  decisive  of  both  cases.  If  this  case  had  been  cited  in  the 
first  instance  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  the  court  to  have  decided  the  Stanly  case 
as  it  did.  In  this  opinion  Judge  Bynum  used  the  following  lan- 
guage :  'No  check  against  our  indebtedness  is  so  effectual  as  that 
you  must  pay  as  you  go,  but  this  is  utterly  disregarded  in  the 
legislation  which  authorizes  the  issue  of  bonds  payable  at  a  remote 
future  period.  As  soon  as  the  sting  of  taxation  is  felt,  the  self- 
burdened  people  cast  about  for  relief,  and  after  some  hesitating 
scruples  plunge  into  repudiation  or  other  methods  involving  the 
sacrifice  of  public  faith,  with  its  dismal  trail  of  evils.  No  refuge 
for  repudiation  can  be  found  in  the  legal  tribunal  of  the  country. 
They  have  sternly  resisted  every  subterfuge  to  escape  a  just 
obligation  of  these  contracts.  No  branch  of  the  law  has  been 
more  thoroughly  investigated  and  discussed,  with  the  view  of 
setting  it  upon  a  just  and  pure  foundation.  And  it  is  a  glory 
of  the  law  that  while  by  application  of  legal  principles  it  enforces 
the  discharge  of  such  obligations,  it  at  the  same  time  preserves 
the  public  morals  in  maintaining  the  integrity  of  solemn  con- 
tracts inviolable.  In  no  other  practical  way,  perhaps,  will  the 
taxpayers  be  sooner  brought  to  a  more  vigilant  watchful- 
ness of  their  own  affairs  and  a  more  careful  selection  of  their 
public  servants.  See  Dillon  on  Municipal  Bonds,  paragraph 
one,' 

**So  important  did  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiffs  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Wilkes  bond  case,  regard  this 
opinion,  that  the  entire  record  and  opinion,  both,  were  printed  in 
the  briefs  filed  in  that  court.  The  gentleman  referred  to  who 
spoke  of  Judge  Bynum  was  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Hon. 
John  F.  Dillon,  now  probably  the  greatest  lawyer  in  New  York 
City. 


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WILLIAM  PRESTON  BYNUM  39 

**After  the  expiration  of  Judge  Bynum's  term  he  settled  in 
Charlotte  and  associated  with  him  W.  P.  Bynum,  Jr.,  and  a  son  of 
the  late  Judge  Shipp  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 

"Many  lawyers  in  Western  North  Carolina  thought,  during  the 
time  he  was  practicing  at  the  bar,  after  the  expiration  of  his 
term,  that  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  advocates  in  the  State. 
He  never  left  anything  undone  that  tended  to  contribute  to  the 
success  oi  his  side  of  the  case,  and  be  it  said  to  his  credit,  he 
never  advocated  principles  of  law  which  he  did  not  believe  to 
be  correct.  Judge  B>Tium  is  over  eighty  years  old  at  the  present 
time,  and  in  full  possession  of  all  his  faculties.  He  always 
possessed  a  very  keen  sense  of  humor,  and  it  was  to  be  observed 
from  the  speeches  he  made  at  the  bar.  Many  lawyers  think  the 
speech  he  delivered  in  Gaston  County,  in  what  is  known  as  the 
Sheriff's  case,  was  one  of  the  greatest  efforts  ever  made  by  a 
lawyer  in  the  State.  The  writer  heard  a  distinguished  lawyer, 
who  was  one  of  the  counsel  opposed  to  him  on  that  occasion,  say 
that  he  never  heard  anything  like  it.  It  should  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  his  judicial  career  that  he  never  failed  while  on 
the  bench  to  read  every  part  of  the  record  and  every  part  of  all 
the  briefs  in  every  case." 

On  the  bench  he  had  the  entire  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
legal  gentlemen  who  were  in  the  habit  of  appearing  in  that  forum, 
and  his  retirement  was  much  regretted  even  by  those  who  were 
political  friends  of  the  new  court.  In  1878,  at  the  popular  election, 
the  personnel  of  the  court  was  entirely  changed,  the  Democrats 
then  electing  their  candidates. 

Since  retiring  from  the  bench.  Judge  Bynum  has  steadily  re- 
fused all  solicitation  to  re-enter  public  life,  though  he  has  retained 
the  entire  confidence  of  his  party,  which  has  been  anxious  on 
more  than  one  occasion  to  honor  him.  Apart  from  attention  to 
his  private  affairs,  literature,  of  which  he  is  fond,  has  engaged 
a  larger  share  of  his  time  and  interest.  A  well-stocked  library 
divides  with  his  garden  and  flowers  the  passing  day.  A  certain 
part  of  his  income  is  devoted  to  the  church  and  charitable  pur- 
poses.   A  church  chapel  at  the  Thompson  Orphanage  in  Charlotte 


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40  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  another  at  Greensboro,  near  the  Normal  College,  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  pupils  of  that  school,  have  been  built  at  his  ex- 
pense. The  Germanton  Church  has  received  his  help,  and  more 
than  one  struggling  seeker  after  an  education  has  been  aided  by 
him.  Industry  and  good  judgment  enabled  him  to  acquire  a  fair 
fortune,  and  in  his  quiet  retired  life  he  had  not  been  indifferent  to 
the  welfare  of  his  fellow-men,  especially  remembering  the  youth 
of  the  State.  The  State  contains  no  nobler  monument  of  domestic 
affection  and  at  the  same  time  of  usefulness  to  the  youth  of  the 
State  than  the  gymnasium  erected  at  Chapel  Hill  in  memory  of 
his  grandson,  William  Preston  Bynum,  and  at  the  same  time 
intended  and  dedicated  to  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  students  of  the 
University  of  the  State. 

Besides  his  only  son,  the  Rev.  William  Shipp  Bynum,  an 
Episcopal  minister  of  gjeat  ability  and  promise,  who  died  in  the 
prime  of  young  manhood,  the  judge  had  one  daughter,  Mary 
Preston,  who  died  unmarried.  The  son  married  Mary  L.  Curtis 
of  Hillsboro,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Curtis,  a  distinguished  botanist 
and  divine  of  his  day.  By  her  there  are  five  living  children — ^Mary 
De  Rosset,  Eliza  Shipp,  married  to  B.  C.  Justice  of  Rutherfordton ; 
Minna,  married  to  Dr.  Archibald  Henderson,  professor  at  Chapel 
Hill;  Curtis  Ashley,  now  a  law  student,  and  Susan,  a  pupil  now 
at  St.  Mary's,  Raleigh. 

Judge  Bynum  himself  performed  his  duty  well  as  a  soldier  and 
in  the  important  positions  he  filled  in  civil  life.  His  law  practice 
occupied,  to  the  exclusion  of  politics,  his  best  years,  and  he  sought 
neither  notoriety  nor  display.  He  stood  before  the  State  most 
conspicuously  during  his  service  upon  the  bench,  but  that  service 
was  the  flower  and  fruit  of  long  previous  preparations,  well  fitting 
him  for  a  judicial  career.  In  a  green  old  age  he  experiences  the 
happiness  which  comes  from  right  living,  love  of  country  and  of 
friends,  from  moderation  and  self-control. 

His  alma  mater,  Davidson  College,  conferred  upon  Judge 
Bynum  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D. 

In  person  Judge  Bynum  is  tall,  and  distinguished  for  his  fine 
countenance,  every  feature  betokening  intelligence  and  intellectu- 


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WILLIAM  PRESTON  BYNUM 


41 


ality.  His  manner  is  easy,  quiet  and  entirely  self-possessed,  indi- 
cating the  strength  of  his  natural  endowments.  His  family  has 
ever  been  icnown  for  mental  capacity  and  personal  courage.  From 
it  have  sprung  three  judges,  all  men  distinguished  in  their 
generation. 

William  S.  Pearson. 


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WILLIAM    P.    BYNUM,   Jr. 

{HE  bench  and  bar  of  North  Carolina  is  to-day, 
as  it  has  ever  been  in  the  past,  pre-eminent  for 
its  wisdom  and  scholarly  attainments,  and  as  a 
retired  member  of  the  one  and  an  active  member 
of  the  other,  William  P.  Bynum,  Jr.,  of  Greens- 
boro, North  Carolina,  stands  easily  in  the  fore- 
front among  the  most  accomplished  leaders  of  this  learned 
profession. 

He  is  a  scion  of  a  stock  in  which  are  intermingled  strains  of 
English  and  Welsh  blood  that  has  furnished  North  Carolina  dur- 
ing several  generations  with  men  distinguished  for  their  ability 
and  character. 

Even  before  Surry  County  was  laid  off,  embracing  the  entire 
northwestern  part  of  the  State,  Gray  Bynum  was  settled  in  the 
vicinity  of  Germanton  in  what  is  now  Stokes  Cotmty.  He  married 
in  Virginia  Margaret  Hampton,  a  daughter  of  Anthony  Hampton, 
a  sister  of  General  Wade  Hampton  of  the  Revolution  and  a  great- 
aunt  of  the  illustrious  Confederate  general  of  that  name.  Their 
son,  Hampton  Bynum,  married  Miss  Mary  Colman  Martin,  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  John  Martin,  whose  parents  had  moved  from 
Essex  County,  Virginia,  to  Saura  Mountain,  Stokes  County,  in 
1768,  when  Colonel  Martin  was  but  twelve  years  of  age.  John 
Martin  became  a  large  landed  proprietor  in  Stokes  County,  and 
was  distinguished  for  his  generous  hospitality  and  benevolence 


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WILLIAM  P.  BYNUM,  Jr.  43 

no  less  than  for  his  integrity  and  capacity,  and  during  the  Revo- 
lution was  an  active  partisan  officer,  and  with  Colonel  William 
Sheppcrd  and  Major  Joseph  Winston  effectually  suppressed  the 
disaffected  Tories  of  Surry  County. 

There  were  five  sons  issuing  from  the  union  of  Hampton  Bynum 
and  Mary  Colman  Martin.  The  oldest,  John  Gray  Bynum,  easily 
took  place  among  the  first  men  of  the  State.  Another  was  the 
distinguished  William  P.  Bynum,  the  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
Second  Regiment  of  State  troops  at  its  organization,  and  who, 
after  the  disappearance  of  Colonel  Tew  at  Sharpsburg,  whose 
fate  was  long  uncertain,  remained  in  command  of  the  regiment 
until  1863,  when,  being  elected  by  the  legislature  solicitor  of  the 
Sixth  District,  he  retired  from  military  service.  In  1873  he  became 
associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  ranked  among  the 
most  esteemed  jurists  of  the  State.  Another  was  Benjamin 
Franklin  Bynum,  who  married  Charity  Henrietta  Morris,  and 
who,  like  all  of  his  family,  was  chiefly  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits,  but  who  also  carried  on  the  business  of  merchandising. 
Highly  esteemed  because  of  his  integrity,  blameless  life,  kindly 
spirit,  and  deeds  of  charity,  he  exerted  a  wide  influence  in  his 
community.  During  the  war  he  rendered  efficient  service  to  the 
State  as  major  in  a  regiment  of  North  Carolina  troops. 

William  Preston  Bynum,  Jr.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
bom  in  McDowell  County,  August  i,  1861,  and  is  the  fifth  son 
of  Benjamin  Franklin  Bynum  and  Charity  Henrietta  Morris. 
Reared  in  the  country,  when  not  at  his  books  he  was  employed 
in  all  kinds  of  work  incident  to  farm  life,  and  taking  a  lively 
interest  in  whatever  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  do,  he  early  formed  habits 
of  industry  and  the  practice  of  applying  himself  vigorously  to 
everything  that  engaged  his  attention.  Under  the  care  of  his 
parents  he  made  rapid  intellectual  development,  but  while  he  in- 
dulged his  taste  for  reading,  he  was  likewise  fond  of  out-of-door 
sports,  which  constituted  his  recreation  and  amusement,  and  which 
tended  to  make  more  firm  his  naturally  robust  constitution.  At 
first  he  attended  the  public  schools  of  his  neighborhood,  and  then 
became  a  pupil  at  the  Kemersville  High  School  and  at  the  Dalton 


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44  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Institute  in  Stokes  County.  In  January,  1881,  he  entered  Trinity 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  June,  1883,  at  the  head  of 
his  class,  having  received  the  Braxton  Craven  medal  for  scholar- 
ship in  his  junior  year.  After  graduation  he  entered  the  law 
school  of  Judges  Dick  and  Dillard  at  Greensboro,  was  examined 
by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  in  February,  1884,  obtained  his  license 
to  practice  law. 

At  the  suggestion  of  his  uncle,  the  distinguished  judge  bearing 
the  same  name  as  himself,  who  was  then  practicing  law  at  Char- 
lotte, North  Carolina,  he  joined  him,  and  in  the  early  years  of  his 
professional  life  had  the  benefit  of  Judge  Bynum's  experience 
and  direction.  He  soon  became  known  as  a  successful  lawyer, 
and  in  the  year  1887  moved  to  Greensboro,  where  his  ability  soon 
made  a  place  for  him  at  the  bar  in  that  city ;  and  on  March  9, 1892, 
he  led  to  the  altar  Miss  Mary  Fleming  Walker. 

Like  his  distinguished  uncle.  Judge  William  P.  Bynum  of 
Charlotte,  he  was  a  Republican  in  his  political  affiliations,  and  in 
1892  was  a  Presidential  elector  on  the  Republican  ticket.  When 
in  1894  there  was  co-operation  among  the  opponents  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  he  was  nominated  for  solicitor  of  the  Fifth  Judicial 
District,  and  elected,  and  served  in  that  capacity  until  October, 
1898,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  office  of  Superior  Court  judge 
for  that  district.  In  January,  1899,  he  was  appointed  special 
assistant  United  States  attorney,  and  in  that  capacity  successfully 
prosecuted  the  defendants  in  the  Asheville  bank  cases,  and  by  his 
management  of  these  cases  added  to  the  reputation  he  had  long 
enjoyed  in  his  own  State,  and  extended  this  reputation  to  other 
States.  When  some  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  were  impeached  in  1901,  he  was  one  of  the  counsel 
employed  in  their  defense,  and  although  the  charges  against  them 
were  of  a  political  nature,  and  especially  involved  their  attitude 
to  the  General  Assembly,  yet  he  and  his  associates  managed  the 
trial  so  successfully  as  to  secure  their  acquittal,  notwithstanding 
the  Senate,  before  whom  they  were  tried,  was  composed  largely  of 
political  opponents,  whose  associates  in  the  House  had  preferred 
the  charges  against  them.    In  April,  1904,  he  resigned  his  position 


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WILLIAM  P.  BYNUM,  Jr.  45 

in  the  service  of  the  United  States  with  a  view  to  devoting  himself 
more  closely  to  his  civil  practice,  whose  growing  importance 
claimed  his  entire  attention. 

No  man  is  more  loved  and  respected  by  his  associates  at  the 
bar  than  is  William  P.  Bynum,  Jr.  While  he  is  universally  recog- 
nized as  an  antagonist  to  be  dreaded,  he  is  no  less  known  as  one 
who  will  not  deign  to  stoop  to  any  trick  or  artifice  to  win  his  case. 
With  him  the  practice  of  the  law  is  a  priesthood  in  the  Temple  of 
Truth,  and  he  has  never  made  it  a  trade  or  business  the  ultimate 
end  of  which  is  the  making  of  money.  His  keenest  delight  is  in  the 
study  of  the  law  as  a  science,  and  in  supplying  a  reason  as  the 
foundation  stone  of  its  every  principle.  He  is  not  content  in  his 
investigations  until  he  has  consulted  every  source  of  authority 
which  might  throw  light  upon  the  question  at  issue.  Those  who 
come  nearest  him  feel  that  he  must  have  patterned  his  professional 
life  after  Lord  Brougham's  words  when  he  said :  *'It  was  the  proud 
boast  of  Augustus  Caesar  that  he  found  Rome  a  city  of  brick 
and  left  it  a  city  of  marble ;  but  how  much  prouder  shall  be  the 
boast  of  that  man  who  shall  have  it  to  say  that  he  found  the  law 
dear  and  left  it  cheap ;  found  it  a  sealed  book  and  left  it  a  living 
letter ;  found  it  the  heritage  of  the  rich  and  left  it  the  inheritance 
of  the  poor;  found  it  a  two-edged  sword  of  craft  and  oppression 
and  left  it  the  staff  of  honesty  and  the  shield  of  innocence." 

As  a  State's  prosecuting  officer  he  ranked  among  the  most  able 
and  successful  who  have  ever  graced  that  office  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  yet  his  work  in  this  trying  position  was  not  more  marked 
by  his  ability  to  obtain  verdicts  than  by  his  determination  to  see 
that  justice  was  done  between  the  State  and  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar,  and  when,  after  investigation,  he  found  in  his  opinion  that 
the  facts  did  not  warrant  placing  the  liberty  of  a  citizen  in 
jeopardy,  no  matter  how  humble,  no  amount  of  influence  from  any 
source,  public  or  private,  could  be  brought  sufficient  to  allow  the 
prisoner  to  be  arraigned.  He  not  only  would  not  appear  in  the 
prosecution,  but  would  refuse  to  allow  his  position  and  his  docket 
to  be  prostituted  to  any  such  purposes. 

While  distinguished  at  the  bar  for  his  eloquence,  scholarship 


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46  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  extensive  learning,  his  method  of  attack  is  by  charging  the 
front  rather  than  the  execution  of  a  flank  movement,  and  his 
weapon  the  battle-axe  rather  than  the  rapier.  Having  won  his 
victory,  he  is  at  all  times  magnanimous,  and  will  not  lend  himself 
to  such  oppressions  as  his  advantages  might  secure. 

In  private  life  he  is  noted  for  his  broad-minded,  open-hearted 
charity.  No  struggling  young  lawyer  ever  sought  his  aid  in 
vain.  His  library  is  free  to  him,  and  he  is  never  too  occupied 
to  aid  him  with  his  counsels  and  suggestions.  He  is  first  of  all  a 
student,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  natural  science,  and  has  also 
devoted  himself  particularly  to  works  on  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. He  has  amassed  in  his  home  one  of  the  most  extensive 
and  weil-chosen  private  libraries  in  the  State,  and  is  never  happier 
than  when  sitting  with  the  works  of  the  great  masters  piled  in 
profusion  about  him. 

He  has  recdved  from  his  alma  mater,  and  well  merits,  the 
degrees  of  A.B.  and  A.M.  His  favorite  book  is  the  Bible, 
and  no  man  in  North  Carolina  outside  of  the  ministry  is 
more  familiar  with  its  passages  or  the  history  of  the  periods  which 
throw  light  upon  its  pages.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  his  interest  in  the  live  questions  of  the 
day  has  led  him  to  become  a  member  of  the  American  Civic  and 
Social  Science  Association.  Animated  by  a  broad  philanthropy, 
he  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  is  also  an  Odd  Fellow 
and  an  Elk. 

Looking  back  into  the  past,  he  attributes  his  first  impulse  to 
strike  for  success  in  life  to  the  influence  of  his  parents  and  of  the 
books  he  read  in  his  early  years,  and  his  career  has  been  due  to  his 
home  life  and  to  fortunate  early  companionship  and  his  constant 
contact  with  right-thinking  men,  whose  association  he  has  enjoyed 
in  his  vocation.  The  keynote  of  success,  he  suggests,  is  work  and 
steady  perseverance,  and  his  highest  encomium  is  the  fact  that 
those  who  know  him  most  intimately  love  him  most  devotedly 
and  respect  and  revere  him  most  unreservedly. 

Zebulon  V.  Taylor. 


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STEPHEN    CABARRUS 


JN  the  period  immediately  succeeding  the  Revo- 
lution, few  men  were  the  equal  of  Stephen 
Cabarrus  in  personal  popularity  and  influence. 
Mr.  Cabarrus  was  a  Frenchman,  born  in  1754, 
and  came  to  America  while  the  war  was  in 
progress.  Our  records  do  not  throw  light  on 
his  early  life.  There  was  a  family  of  Cabarrus  in  France  to  which 
belonged  Count  Francois  Cabarrus,  bom  in  1752,  who  settled  in 
Spain,  and  was  a  valued  councillor  at  the  courts  of  both 
Charles  IV.  and  Joseph  Bonaparte.  This  Count  Cabarrus  had 
a  daughter,  Jeanne  Marie  Ignace  Therese  de  Cabarrus,  who,  while 
the  wife  of  Tallien,  influenced  that  Revolutionist  to  effect  the 
destruction  of  Robespierre.  This  lady  afterward  became  Princess 
de  Chimay.  Coming  as  he  did  from  the  same  country,  it  is 
possible  that  Stephen  Cabarrus  was  of  the  same  family  to  which 
belonged  the  Count. 

It  was  in  the  closing  year  of  the  Revolution,  1783,  that  Mr. 
Cabarrus  first  appeared  in  the  legislature  of  North  Carolina.  He 
represented  the  county  of  Chowan.  As  that  county  was  so  pro- 
lific of  great  men,  this  election  was  no  small  compliment  to  one 
who  had  only  recently  come  to  North  Carolina.  He  was  returned 
to  the  legislature  in  1784,  the  following  year,  not  from  the  county 
of  Chowan,  but  from  the  town  of  Edenton,  borough  representation 
being  allowed  under  the  constitution  of  North  Carolina  then  in 


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48  NORTH  CAROLINA 

force.  Sessions  of  the  legislature  then  being  held  annually,  he 
was  again  Edenton's  representative  in  1785,  1786  and  1787;  in 

1788  he  was  again  returned  from  Chowan,  and  served  six  terms  up 
to  and  including  1793.  He  was  also  the  county's  representative 
at  six  sessions  from  1800  to  1805,  both  inclusive.  During  the 
greater  part  of  his  service  in  the  House  of  Commons  he  was 
speaker  of  that  body,  usually  being  elected  unanimously.  He 
filled  the  post  of  speaker  for  ten  terms — ^at  four  sessions  from 

1789  to  1792,  both  inclusive,  and  at  six  sessions  from  1800  to  1805, 
both  inclusive.  In  1786,  during  his  early  service  as  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  he  was  on  the  committee  which  investi- 
gated the  great  frauds  in  connection  with  Revolutionary  land 
grants,  and  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which  examined 
prisoners  charged  with  those  crimes.  Mr.  Cabarrus  was  an  en- 
thusiastic member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  belonged  to 
Unanimity  Lodge  at  Edenton.  He  was  a  delegate  from  that 
lodge  to  the  Masonic  convention  which  met  at  Tarboro  on  the 
27th  of  December,  1787,  and  reorganized  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
North  Carolina,  which  had  ceased  operations  during  the  Revo- 
lution. Mr.  Cabarrus  was  a  member  of  the  State  convention  of 
1788,  which  rejected  the  Federal  Constitution ;  he  was  also  elected 
in  1789  on  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  and  remained  a  member  thereof  till  1792. 

It  was  in  the  year  1792  that  an  honor  was  conferred  on  Mr. 

Cabarrus  which  will  preserve  his  name  for  all  time — ^the  estab- 

» lishment  of  the  county  of  Cabarrus,  so  called  as  a  compliment 

to  him.    The  act  establishing  this  county  is  Chapter  XXI.  of  the 

Laws  of  1792. 

Another  very  important  public  ser\'ice  rendered  by  Mr. 
Cabarrus  was  in  connection  with  the  permanent  establishment  of 
the  scat  of  government  at  Raleigh.  Of  all  the  several  legislative 
bills  introduced  for  the  establishment  and  regulation  of  the  new 
capital,  the  first  was  the  one  brought  before  the  General  Assembly 
at  Fayctteville  in  November,  1790,  providing  that  the  Convention 
Ordinance  of  1788  about  a  permanent  seat  of  government  should 
be  carried  into  effect.    When  a  ballot  on  this  bill  was  taken,  the 


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STEPHEN  CABARRUS  49 

vote  was  a  tie,  and  Speaker  Cabarrus  gave  his  casting  vote  in  its 
favor,  thus  securing  its  passage  through  the  House.  When  sent 
to  the  Senate,  however,  a  tie  vote  resulted  also;  Speaker  Lenoir 
gave  his  casting  vote  against  it,  and  it  was  thereby  defeated.  But 
in  1791  the  legislature  passed  a  similar  bill,  and  several  years 
later  Mr.  Cabarrus  was  made  one  of  the  commissioners  to  start 
the  new  city  on  its  career.  Something  more  than  a  half  mile  south 
of  the  Capitol  Square'  in  Raleigh  to-day  is  a  street  running  east 
and  west,  which  is  called  Cabarrus,  in  honor  of  Mr.  Cabarrus. 

History  describes  Stephen  Cabarrus  as  a  man  of  great  gen- 
erosity combined  with  a  courtliness  of  manner  and  that  general 
polish  so  characteristic  of  the  Frenchman. 

Mr.  Cabarrus  died  on  the  4th  of  August,  1808.  The  following 
notice  of  him  appears  in  the  Eden  ton  Gazette  of  August  11,  1808: 

"With  the  deepest  regret  we  have  to  announce  the  death  of  the  Hon. 
Stephen  Cabarrus,  Esq.,  during  many  years  a  distinguished  member  and 
speaker  of  the  Assembly  of  this  State.  He  died  at  his  seat  near  Edenton  on 
the  4th  instant,  aged  fifty-four  years.  The  perfect  and  undeviating  rectitude 
which  at  all  times  marked  his  conduct  in  his  many  public  and  social  rela- 
tions, his  humane  and  charitable  disposition,  his  amiable  manners  and 
improved  understanding,  render  his  loss  a  subject  of  universal  regret. 
On  a  retrospect  of  his  life  and  a  recollection  of  his  many  virtues,  the 
tongue  of  malevolence  must  be  struck  dumb,  and  eulogy  itself  confess 
its  want  of  power  to  do  justice  to  his  name.  His  mortal  remains  were 
followed  to  the  grave  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  respectable  inhabitants ; 
and,  summoned  by  the  Grand  Architect  of  the  Universe,  we  trust  his  soul 
has  ascended  to  the  mansion  assigned  it  in  its  native  skies." 

In  its  issue  of  the  same  date,  August  nth,  the  Raleigh  Register 
said: 

"Died,  at  his  seat  in  the  vicinity  of  Edenton,  on  the  4th  instant,  Stephen 
Cabarrus,  Esq.  This  gentleman  was  a  native  of  France,  but  came  to  this 
country  during  the  Revolution,  and  served  for  upwards  of  twenty  years 
as  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  this  State,  for  many  years  of  which 
be  was  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Those  who  had  the  happiness 
of  being  acquainted  with  the  deceased  will  bear  willing  testimony  of  his 
worth.  To  sound  intellect,  improved  by  a  liberal  education,  he  joined 
tfac  strictest  integrity  with  the  greatest  urbanity  of  manners;  and  truly 
exemplified  in  his  character  that 

"  'An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God.' " 


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so  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  country  seat  of  Mr.  Cabarrus  was  Pembroke,  near 
Edenton. 

He  made  his  will  less  than  a  year  prior  to  his  death,  in  1808, 
and  in  it  mentions  his  three  sisters,  Marianna,  Cadette  and  Julia 
Cabarrus,  then  living  at  or  near  Bayonne,  in  France ;  his  brother 
Auguste  and  nephews  Thomas  and  Augustus  Cabarrus,  then 
living  with  the  testator ;  Clarence,  wife  of  his  brother  Bartholemy 
Cabarrus,  living  in  France,  at  Paris ;  Julia  Beaulieu  Charrier,  wife 
of  Jean  Charrier,  fils,  living  near  Bordeaux,  France  (this  lady 
being  sister  of  the  testator's  deceased  wife,  whose  name  is  not 
given) ;  Sophia  and  Polly  Niel,  General  William  Richardson 
Davie  and  Judge  John  Louis  Taylor,  He  likewise  provides  in 
this  will  for  the  emancipation  of  several  of  his  servants,  each 
of  whom  was  also  to  receive  one  hundred  dollars.  His  brother 
Auguste  Cabarrus,  Judge  John  Louis  Taylor,  Samuel  Tredwell 
and  John  Roulhac  are  named  as  executors. 

Whether  the  brother  and  nephews  of  Mr.  Cabarrus  whom  he 
mentions  in  the  above-quoted  will  remained  in  America  or  re- 
turned to  their  native  land  the  writer  of  this  sketch  is  not 
informed. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood, 


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THE  NEW  yORK 
^^BLIC  LIBRARY 


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■-*  c-     ; 


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JULrAN    SHAKIiSTKARE   CARR 

'ONSPlCL*Ut\S  cimpiiir  tlu^  loadiiiLT  ir-'  .i 
Nurth  Cnrnlina  is  Julian  Shakesj^oarr  v^..", 
whosi*  paUlii^  %[)irit.  liberality  ami  hciu'\'  't!-  o. 
ufiUrtJ  viifh  an  anv'ahle  <!isi)'.>ili..n  aiul  f.u*' 
jmtMm^i  can.;^::«'.  wdii  tor  him  at  'ui  early  a.L:.- 
ar  envijitilL*  |*  lic^n,  whicl;  time  has  t-nly  berve-l 
ni'-re  prvnianei.t. 
K'tiTT  can  w<'ll  he  cl:r'^e<l  am'>n;^  l^:e  svlf-made  men  of 
A..  '>{,  si:*\e^s  in  lii'-  has  hcen  due  to  tlieir  oxnU  enert^y, 
J  .ri«I  (•PlerI•^i^e  raMur  t'lan  to  ilit*  aeei«ieTit>  of  hir»h. 
ht^  i  .i*^  .lUai'ul  t^'..^  to])m<)^t  nniul  of  the  ladd'T  of 
'.  he  lias  ]»con  iLe  arehiieet  (^f  his  own  fortuiu'. 

•  c'u  :ni..tanr(\«>  of  ji'-s  earl\    lite  a!T«>r(li'il  h.im  a  svV.d 

1  •  ..  I'{  ua-s  t!  0  son  of  I«hn  W  e>] -v  Carr,  a  mer- 
•  .  '  •  Hill.  wI.M  was  h<  M  in  hi^li  e>te':n  hy  hi*^  fellow- 
.  '  '   .' h.  -e  iru'  i^i'h.Mnent  and  iins\V!T\  in:j;  intr.i;rily  ^a\e 

'■  I  ■*  al   ir.ln''Tii\-. 

•  r/'  the  o'.i  j:i{!'.;iai  s\^tem,  wlicn  e'»unt;-  niatt'jrs  \vt*re 
'■'  i    :\  th.    <  '•  .ri  I  f  (Quarter  Se^^M.?1s.  Mr.  Carr  \va>  one 

•  •I!'-  ..  ('^  \\\)(.  C'.r',i|)osc(l  liiat  e'>r.rt  for  (">iar.pe  (7nrtn»y, 
•n   '.  whtn  ^>ne  rdails  tlu-  i;u  at  n'rnhcr  (»f  Karp-'d  nnd 

\  )  r.a\c  at\va\s  r^'sided  in  thai  lii^torie  county.  Ot 
t  .  Im-  <>'{'']   that  he  uas  nne  of  the  most  ex'-^-llcnt   and 

• 'li  '-n^  of  h"s  cMMUunity,  a   d"v.)t(!l   ni.'mi.T  of   t'^e 


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JULIAN    SHAKESPEARE   CARR 

fONSPICUOUS  among  the  leading  men  of 
North  Carolina  is  Julian  Shakespeare  Carr, 
whose  public  spirit,  liberality  and  benevolence, 
united  with  an  amiable  disposition  and  fine 
personal  carriage,  won  for  him  at  an  early  age 
an  enviable  position,  which  time  has  only  served 
to  make  more  prominent. 

General  Carr  can  well  be  classed  among  the  self-made  men  of 
the  State,  whose  success  in  life  has  been  due  to  their  own  energy, 
intelligence  and  enterprise  rather  than  to  the  accidents  of  birth. 
Although  he  has  attained  the  topmost  round  of  the  ladder  of 
citizenship,  he  has  been  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune. 

Still,  the  circumstances  of  his  early  life  afforded  him  a  solid 
basis  to  build  on.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Wesley  Carr,  a  mer- 
chant of  Chapel  Hill,  who  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  whose  fine  judgment  and  unswerving  integrity  gave 
him  a  strong  local  influence. 

In  the  days  of  the  old  judicial  system,  when  county  matters  were 
administered  in  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  Mr.  Carr  was  one 
of  the  three  justices  who  composed  that  court  for  Orange  County, 
a  high  honor,  when  one  recalls  the  great  number  of  learned  and 
able  men  who  have  always  resided  in  that  historic  county.  Of 
him  it  is  to  be  said  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  excellent  and 
estimable  citizens  of  his  community,  a  devoted  member  of  the 


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52  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Methodist  Church,  given  to  hospitality,  linostentatious  in  his  mode 
of  living,  and  in  all  his  dealings  he  maintained  a  high  standard 
that  illustrated  the  excellence  of  his  character.  He  was  ever  a 
true  patriot ;  indeed,  he  was  descended  from  Revolutionary  stock, 
for  his  ancestor,  John  Carr,  who  was  bom  in  County  Down, 
Ireland,  in  1728,  in  colonial  days  settled  in  Virginia,  and  served 
as  an  ensign  in  the  First  Virginia  Regiment  in  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence; and  his  patriotic  spirit  has  been  perpetuated  in  his 
posterity. 

The  mother  of  General  Carr  was  Elizabeth  Pannill  Bullock. 
She  was  of  the  Granville  family  of  that  name,  which  for  genera- 
tions has  been  noted  for  strength  of  character  and  sterling  worth, 
a  family  whose  members  wherever  they  have  resided  have  always 
stood  high  and  exerted  a  strong  influence  in  their  respective 
communities. 

It  is  to  such  a  parentage,  whose  character  instead  of  wealth 
gives  a  title  to  respectability,  that  most  of  the  strong,  great  men 
who  illustrate  American  life  owe  their  origin. 

Endowed  by  nature  with  a  frank  and  amiable  disposition,  and 
reared  under  the  careful  eyes  of  his  excellent  parents,  Julian  S. 
Carr  developed  into  a  manly  youth.  Strong  and  healthy,  he  was 
not  content  to  be  idle,  and  when  vacation  came  he  was  at  work 
either  on  his  father's  farm  or  helping  in  the  store. 

He  was  bom  on  the  12th  day  of  October,  1845 ,  and  at  an  early 
age  was  sent  to  the  village  school,  and  when  turned  sixteen  entered 
the  University.  But  before  he  had  finished  the  course  there  the 
demand  for  recmits  to  fill  Lee's  depleted  ranks  led  him  to  abandon 
college  and  don  the  Confederate  uniform.  He  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  K,  Third  North  Carolina  Cavalry,  in  Barringer's 
Brigade,  and  took  his  stand  beneath  the  stars  and  bars  as  a  man 
ready  to  make  every  sacrifice  in  defense  of  his  country. 

After  the  war  had  closed  he  entered  into  business  with  his 
father  at  Chapel  Hill,  and  then  spent  a  year  in  Arkansas,  return- 
ing to  North  Carolina  in  1870. 

Soon  after  his  retum  he  was  able  to  make  the  purchase,  for 
$4000,  of  a  third  interest  in  a  tobacco  partnership  which  W.  T. 


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JULIAN  SHAKESPEARE  CARR  53 

Blackwell  and  J.  R.  Day  were  conducting  at  Durham.  It  was  a 
small  but  prosperous  business,  with  hardly  any  capital  and  no 
particular  prospect  of  improvement.  That  was  a  day  of  small 
things  in  the  industrial  life  of  North  Carolina.  Durham  itself 
consisted  of  only  about  a  dozen  houses,  and  excepting  a  few  cotton 
factories  that  had  survived  the  war  and  a  few  small  tobacco 
factories,  there  were  no  industrial  enterprises  in  the  State.  Manu- 
facturing was  a  new  business.  Our  people  had  not  been  trained 
to  it,  and  those  who  had  capital  feared  to  embark  in  an  untried 
field,  especially  as  money  brought  an  interest  of  eighteen  and 
twenty-four  per  cent. 

However,  hopeful  of  the  future,  the  firm  of  W.  T.  Blackwell  & 
Company,  now  reinforced  by  the  quick  apprehension  of  its  junior 
member,  pressed  on  their  work.  The  financial  management  fell 
to  the  care  of  Mr.  Carr,  and  so  skillful  was  he  that,  although  he 
was  often  embarrassed  because  of  insufiicient  capital,  the  business 
continued  to  expand,  and  after  some  years  of  hard  struggle  and 
persistent  labor  it  became  very  profitable. 

And  eventually,  under  the  sagacious  administration  of  its  man- 
agers, it  grew  to  mammoth  proportions,  its  unparalleled  success 
being  both  gratifying  and  astonishing  to  the  people  of  the  State. 
Mr.  Carr  desiring  to  still  further  expand,  Mr.  Blackwell  sold  his 
interest  to  him,  as  Mr.  Day  had  done  earlier,  and  the  business 
was  continued  on  still  larger  lines  than  ever  before.  The  creation 
and  successful  management  of  such  a  vast  business,  no  less  than 
the  income  it  gave,  brought  Mr.  Carr  a  great  reputation.  He  was 
by  long  odds  the  greatest  business  man  who  had  up  to  that  time 
ever  been  in  the  State,  while  his  disposition  to  make  donations  to 
worthy  objects  and  his  frank,  pleasant  manners  endeared  him  to 
the  public. 

However,  Mr.  Carr  found  it  to  his  interest  to  dispose  of  his 
factory,  receiving  for  it  a  large  fortune,  and  since  then  he  has 
devoted  his  talents  to  other  enterprises,  especially  to  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Durham,  of  which  he  has  been  president  from 
its  creation.  Indeed,  since  his  retirement  from  the  tobacco  busi- 
ness he  has  been  harder  worked  than  ever  before,  for  his  interests 


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54  NORTH  CAROLINA 

have  been  more  diversified  and  have  demanded  more  time  and 
attention.  But  trained  in  the  management  of  affairs,  quick  to 
apprehend  and  master  details,  and  prompt  to  decide,  he  has  a 
remarkable  capacity  for  the  despatch  of  business,  and  has  em- 
barked in  many  new  undertakings. 

Indeed,  no  other  citizen  of  the  State  has  had  such  diversified 
interests  or  has  contributed  so  generally  toward  the  promotion 
of  new  enterprises.  Whenever  some  new  corporation  was  to  be 
started,  the  promoters  of  it  generally  sought  Mr.  Carr  for  advice 
or  co-operation,  and  he  has  been  persistent  in  endeavoring  to 
develop  the  industrial  resources  of  North  Carolina,  and  par- 
ticularly has  he  been  the  originator  or  the  chief  promoter  of  a 
great  number  of  the  enterprises  that  have  contributed  to  the 
rapid  growth  of  his  home  town — Durham. 

Possessed  of  ample  means,  and  a  man  of  decided  public  spirit, 
he  has  become  a  member,  generally  a  director  and  often  the 
president,  of  a  long  list  of  corporations,  while  he  has  rendered 
useful  service  as  a  trustee  of  schools  and  colleges  in  the  interest^ 
of  an  advanced  education.  Especially  has  it  been  agreeable  to 
him  to  devote  time  and  labor  as  a  trustee  and  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  his  alma  mater,  the  University  of  North 
Carolina. 

But  as  large  as  has  been  the  business  interests  of  General  Carr, 
he  has  found  time  to  indulge  his  spirit  of  benevolence  by  selecting 
worthy  objects  for  large  donations,  and  by  liberal  contributions 
for  charitable  purposes,  and  aiding  persons  who  were  in  distressed 
circumstances.  His  purse  has  been  open  to  a  remarkable  degree 
to  the  widow,  the  orphan,  the  unfortunate  and  for  the  aid  of 
young  men  seeking  the  means  of  an  education.  In  these  lines 
he  has  doubtless  been  of  more  use  to  deserving  persons  needing 
help  than  any  other  citizen  of  the  State,  and  many  there  are  who 
hold  him  in  grateful  remembrance  for  his  repeated  kindnesses. 

His  donations  to  churches  have  been  important,  and  while  he 
has  adhered  to  the  religion  he  was  taught  at  the  knees  of  his  pious 
mother,  and  has  been  a  leading  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South,  in  North  Carolina,  he  has  not  confined  his 


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JULIAN  SHAKESPEARE  CARR  55 

benevolence  to  that  denomination,  but  has  been  broad  enough  to 
embrace  other  Christian  churches  in  his  donations. 

When  the  crisis  arrived  in  the  affairs  of  Trinity  College  (then 
situated  in  Randolph  County),  following  the  death  of  Dr.  Craven, 
and  the  Methodist  Conference,  under  whose  fostering  care  the 
institution  was  conducted,  felt  impelled  by  the  stress  of  circum- 
stances to  abandon  it,  General  Carr  came  forward  and,  assisted 
by  two  other  Methodist  laymen,  J.  W.  Alspaugh  and  James  A. 
Gray,  undertook  the  conduct  of  the  college  for  three  years  free  of 
all  cost  to  the  church. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  three  years,  Messrs.  Alspaugh  and  Gray, 
feeling  that  the  burden  was  larger  than  they  cared  to  share,  retired 
from  the  management  of  the  institution ;  but  General  Carr,  single 
handed,  stepped  into  the  breach,  and  by  a  donation  of  $10,000 
saved  Trinity  College  to  Methodism.  Later,  when  it  seemed  wise 
to  remove  the  college  from  Randolph  County  to  Durham,  General 
Carr  gave  his  check  for  $20,000  for  the  grounds  upon  which  the 
present  magnificent  plant  of  Trinity  College  is  situated,  and 
donated  this  beautiful  location  to  the  Methodist  Church.  Truly, 
Methodism  and  Trinity  College  have  had  no  more  loyal  friend  than 
General  Carr,  because  he  has  proved  the  old  maxim,  "A  friend  in 
need  is  a  friend  indeed." 

When,  by  unfortunate  circumstances  and  conditions,  Greens- 
boro Female  College,  the  female  college  of  the  Methodist  de- 
nomination in  North  Carolina,  passed  under  the  hammer  and  was 
sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  was  lost  to  Methodism,  General 
Carr  headed  a  syndicate  that  repurchased  the  property  and  saved 
the  college  to  his  church.  For  several  years  he  was  president  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  that  managed  the  institution,  and  during 
that  period  the  college  prospered,  and  was  conducted  on  a  plane 
that  won  the  admiration  not  only  of  the  Methodists,  but  of  the 
entire  people  of  the  State  as  well.  Besides  devoting  his  time  and 
talent  freely  to  the  management  of  the  college,  he  gave  liberally 
of  his  means  to  equip  a  library  and  to  augment  the  Educational 
Loan  Fund.  Scores  of  young  women,  as  well  as  young  men,  are 
to-day  possessors  of  diplomas  from  these  fine  schools,  and  are 


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S6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

thus  better  equipped  for  good  citizenship  and  greater  usefulness 
through  his  munificence. 

So,  too,  with  Wake  Forest,  Davidson,  Elon  College,  St.  Mary's 
and  the  Baptist  University  for  Women,  the  leading  institutions 
of  learning  of  their  several  denominations,  for  they  have  each 
been  recipients  of  his  beneficence;  while  the  University,  his  alma 
mater,  and  properly  styled  "the  head  of  the  educational  interests 
in  North  Carolina,"  points  with  pride  to  one  of  the  stateliest 
buildings  on  its  beautiful  campus,  and  has  christened  it  "the  Carr 
building"  in  honor  of  its  donor. 

When  the  battleship  Maine,  peacefully  riding  upon  the  bosom 
of  the  Gulf,  was  sent  to  the  bottom  while  the  ill-fated  crew  lay 
sleeping,  the  country  was  shocked,  and  there  came  the  cry,  "To 
arms,  to  avenge  the  Maine."  The  general  Government  called 
upon  each  of  the  States  to  furnish  its  quota  of  troops.  North 
Carolina  promptly  raised  her  complement,  the  town  of  Durham 
furnishing  two  companies,  one  white  and  one  colored.  There  was 
some  delay  before  the  colored  company  could  be  assigned  for 
duty,  and  at  his  own  expense  General  Carr  provided  for  the 
members  of  the  company  pending  the  action  of  the  Government 
making  a  regimental  assignment. 

When  the  regiment  containing  the  white  company  was  ordered 
to  the  front,  General  Carr  followed  in  its  wake,  and  as  far  as 
possible  saw  that  "the  boys"  were  provided  with  every  comfort 
consistent  with  army  regulations.  Nor  was  his  thoughtfulness 
limited  to  those  from  his  own  town,  but  every  member  of  the 
North  Carolina  Regiment  who  desired  or  needed  anything  was 
remembered.  The  exigencies  of  the  situation  forced  action  upon 
the  United  States  before  the  department  was  entirely  prepared, 
and  the  new  troops  were  badly  equipped  and  not  promptly  paid. 
For  months  after  entering  the  service  they  relied  entirely  upon 
their  own  private  revenues  and  resources.  To  relieve  the  situa- 
tion, which  had  passed  the  stage  of  inconvenience  and  bordered 
closely  upon  destitution  and  suffering,  General  Carr  wired  General 
Alger,  the  Secretary  of  War,  for  permission  to  advance  the  First 
North  Carolina  Regiment  one  month's  pay,  tendering  his  check 


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JULIAN  SHAKESPEARE  CARR  57 

for  $25,000.  He  appointed  one  white  and  one  colored  commissary 
to  scout  the  town  of  Durham,  with  instructions  that  the  house  rent, 
doctor's  and  grocer's  bills  of  every  family  in  his  community,  white 
or  colored,  whose  dependence  and  support  was  in  the  army  and 
that  needed  the  assistance,  should  be  paid  at  General  Carr's  ex- 
pense. This  course  of  conduct  was  persistently  pursued  until 
the  two  companies  were  mustered  out  of  service  and  returned 
home.  If  there  be  a  parallel  to  General  Carr's  patriotism  and 
liberality  during  that  period  within  the  entire  United  States,  it  is 
unknown. 

An  ardent  Confederate,  he  has  looked  especially  after  the  old 
veterans,  and  his  liberality  and  active  exertions  for  their  benefit 
early  led  to  his  election  as  the  president  of  the  Confederate  Vet- 
eran Association  of  North  Carolina,  an  honor  which  he  has  now 
enjoyed  for  many  years ;  while  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Soldiers' 
Home  have  likewise  endeared  him  to  the  old  veterans. 

On  the  organization  of  the  United  Veteran  Association  of  the 
Confederate  States,  he  was  elected  as  the  major-general  for  the 
North  Carolina  division,  to  which  post  he  has  annually  been  re- 
elected, and  as  major-general  he  has  since  commanded  the  North 
Carolina  Veterans  wherever  they  have  been  assembled. 

General  Carr  has  always  been  an  active  Democrat,  has  made 
large  contributions  for  the  benefit  of  that  party,  and  has  exerted 
a  strong  and  beneficial  influence  in  the  party  councils.  Naturally, 
he  has  had  an  ambition  to  share  the  party  honors  and  to  find  scope 
for  his  administrative  abilities,  confessedly  of  a  high  order,  in 
conducting  the  affairs  of  state;  and  at  one  time  he  desired  the 
office  of  governor,  but  the  nomination  was  not  then  conferred, 
and  after  that  his  business  engagements  have  precluded  such 
public  employment,  and  in  the  year  1896  he  virtually  declined 
the  nomination.  At  the  National  Democratic  Convention  held  in 
Kansas  City  in  1900,  North  Carolina  and  Idaho  complimented 
General  Carr  with  their  votes  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  during 
that  year  he  was  persuaded  by  many  friends  to  present  his  name 
for  the  position  of  United  States  senator,  an  office  that  he  was 
exceedingly  well  equipped  for  and  would  have  filled  with  much 


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58  NORTH  CAROLINA 

credit  to  the  State;  but  the  two  preceding  campaigns  had  been 
of  extraordinary  interest  and  importance  to  the  people,  and  had 
been  won  so  successfully  and  admirably  by  the  splendid  work  of 
Hon.  F.  M.  Simmons  that  a  majority  of  the  people  thought  that 
the  vacant  senatorship  should  be  bestowed  upon  that  gentleman, 
whose  services  had  been  so  important  and  whose  capacity  also 
peculiarly  fitted  him  for  its  high  duties. 

General  Carr  gracefully  yielded  to  the  verdict  of  his  party 
friends,  and  has  continued  to  exert  as  strong  a  political  influence 
in  the  State  as  he  has  ever  done.  Indeed,  of  General  Carr  it  has 
been  said  that  next  to  Senator  Vance  he  was  the  best  beloved  North 
Carolinian  and  the  most  universally  popular.  By  united  party 
voice  he  has  been  four  times  a  delegate  from  the  State  at  large 
to  the  National  Democratic  Convention,  and  has  been  instru- 
mental in  naming  the  Democratic  candidates  for  President  and 
Vice-President  and  making  the  declaration  of  party  principles. 

In  the  church  as  well  as  the  State  he  has  rendered  conspicuous 
service;  he  has  twice  been  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  also  to  the  Robert 
Raikes  Sunday-school  Convention  at  London. 

It  has  been  the  fortune  of  General  Carr  to  have  been  often 
called  upon  to  deliver  public  addresses,  and  in  their  preparation 
he  has  exhibited  a  fund  of  information  on  a  large  variety  of  sub- 
jects, that  bespeaks  wide  reading,  while  the  elegant  composition, 
close  argument  and  just  sentiments  of  his  addresses  excite 
admiration. 

The  reading  which  he  has  found  most  beneficial  and  most 
attractive  is  of  books  of  biography  and  travel ;  and  notwithstand- 
ing he  has  been  so  extensively  engaged  in  manufacturing  and 
banking  and  public  employment,  he  has  found  time  to  gratify 
his  taste  for  farming,  having  established  a  model  farm  at  Occo- 
neechee,  in  the  vicinity  of  Durham. 

On  being  asked  what  were  the  relative  influences  that  led  to 
his  success  in  life.  General  Carr  replied  that  he  attributed  his 
success,  first,  to  his  home  life  and  early  companionship,  which 
formed  his  character,  and  then  to  his  contact  with  men,  observing 


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JULIAN  SHAKESPEARE  CARR  59 

those  things  that  were  admirable  in  human  conduct  and  noting  the 
weaknesses  and  other  characteristics  that  were  derogatory  to  high 
manhood. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  1873,  General  Carr  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Nannie  Graham  Parrish,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Colonel  D.  C.  Parrish,  who  owned  a  beautiful  country 
seat  in  the  northern  part  of  what  was  then  Orange,  now  Durham, 
County.  This  union  has  proved  a  most  delightful  one,  and  has 
been  blessed  with  six  children,  in  all  of  whom  their  parents  are 
fortunate  and  happy.  Eliza  Morehead,  married  to  Henry  Corwin 
Flower  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri;  Lallah  Rooke,  married  to 
William  F.  Patton  of  Pennsylvania;  Julian  S.,  Jr.,  married  to 
Margaret  Cannon  of  Concord,  North  Carolina;  Albert  Marvin, 
Claiborne  McDowell  and  Austin  Heaton.  During  the  thirty-two 
years  of  their  married  life,  no  couple  of  North  Carolina  have  en- 
joyed greater  respect  or  esteem  than  have  General  and  Mrs.  Carr, 
for  the  general  has  found  for  his  mate  a  veritable  queen  among 
women.  Their  social  life  has  been  on  an  elegant  plane,  and  Gen- 
eral Carr's  handsome  residence,  Somerset  Villa,  which  is  an  orna- 
ment to  the  State,  is  named  in  honor  of  his  early  kinsman,  Robert 
Carr,  the  Earl  of  Somerset,  and  here  is  known  of  all  North  Caro- 
linians open-handed,  genuine  Southern  hospitality. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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J 


SAMUEL   PRICE   CARSON 

[HE  family  of  Carsons  have  occupied  a  large 
place  in  the  history  of  Western  North  Carolina, 
and  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  most 
distinguished  of  that  name.  About  1773,  John 
Carson, a  native  of  Ireland, then  just  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  located  in  Burke  County,  where 
he  accumulated  a  large  estate  and  raised  a  family  of  many  sons. 
He  married  first  a  daughter  of  John  McDowell,  and  by  her  had 
five  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  then  he  married  the  widow  of 
Colonel  Joseph  McDowell,  and  by  her  had  four  sons  and  one 
daughter.  He  was  a  man  of  much  influence  in  his  county,  and  in 
1805  and  1806  represented  Burke  in  the  legislature.  His  sons 
also  were  strong  men,  and  Joseph  McDowell  Carson  was  often  in 
the  legislature,  and  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention 
of  1835  from  Rutherford  County,  where  he  resided.  A  younger 
son,  William  M.  Carson,  also  represented  Burke  County  in  the 
legislature. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  eldest  son  by  his  last  wife, 
and  was  bom  at  Pleasant  Gardens,  in  the  county  of  Burke,  on 
the  22d  of  January,  1798.  Having  a  fondness  for  political  life, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  and 
again  in  1824.  In  that  year  he  also  became  a  candidate  for  Con- 
gress against  Dr.  Robert  B.  Vance,  the  sitting  member,  who  at  the 
previous  election  had  beaten  Hon.  Felix  Walker,  who  had  repre- 
sented that  district  in  Congress  for  six  years,  and  who,  it  is  said, 


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SAMUEL  PRICE  CARSON  6i 

was  the  originator  of  the  expression,  "talking  for  Buncombe." 
The  candidacy  of  Carson,  because  of  his  youth  and  inexperience, 
was  treated  by  Dr.  Vance  and  another  competitor,  Hon.  James 
Graham,  with  some  ridicule;  but  he  possessed  talents  of  a  high 
order  and  won  many  friends,  and  Mr.  Walker  withdrew  from 
the  campaign  and  threw  his  influence  for  Carson,  who  was  elected. 
At  the  next  election,  in  1826,  Dr.  Vance  was  again  a  candidate, 
and  on  the  stump  charged  old  Colonel  Carson  with  disloyalty 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  which  Colonel  Carson  denounced 
as  utterly  false,  and  on  Dr.  Vance's  repeating  the  charge,  subse- 
quently Mr.  Carson  challenged  him;  and  after  the  election,  and 
early  in  1827,  they  met  at  Saluda  Gap,  on  the  South  Carolina  State 
line-  Carson  was  acccmipanied  by  David  Crockett,  and  at  the  first 
shot  Vance  fell  mortally  wounded,  and  died  at  midnight,  his  last 
words  being,  "Out,  brief  candle."  It  is  said  that  Carson  was  very 
much  affected  in  after  life  by  the  tragic  termination  of  this  affair, 
and  that  he  had  expressed  the  purpose  of  not  shooting  10  kill,  but  his 
second.  Hon.  Warren  R.  Davis  of  South  Carolina,  had  assured  him 
that  if  one  or  the  other  were  not  killed,  the  result  would  be  only 
another  meeting.  Later  in  life  Mr.  Carson  acted  as  a  second  in  an 
affair  between  Hon.  David  F.  Caldwell  and  Hon.  Charles  Fisher ;  and 
also  in  another  affair  between  Governor  Branch  and  Governor 
Forsyth  of  Georgia.  In  these  affairs  he  performed  the  full  duty 
of  the  second  under  the  code  in  seeking  to  effect  an  amicable 
adjustment,  and  in  both  instances  he  succeeded.  Mr.  Carson  was 
constantly  re-elected  to  Congress  until  1833.  A  warm  Democrat, 
he  was  a  supporter  of  Jackson's  administration,  and  became 
a  close  friend  of  the  President,  whom  it  is  said  he  sometimes  rep- 
resented on  the  floor  of  the  House.  He  was  unusually  gifted  as 
an  orator,  possessing  great  command  of  language,  a  fine  imagina- 
tion and  a  charming  voice.  Free  from  affectation,  with  a  manner 
dignified,  easy  and  graceful,  he  had  the  power  of  swaying  an 
audience  at  will  and  holding  them  spellbound  by  his  eloquence. 
Indeed,  it  has  been  said  of  him  that  he  was  the  best  impromptu 
speaker  in  Congress,  and  that  at  a  time  when  there  were  so  many 
men  of  the  highest  distinction  in  public  life. 


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62  NORTH  CAROLINA 

During  his  Congressional  career,  parties  and  factions  and  the 
strife  of  personal  ambitions  rose  to  an  unusual  height.  Jackson 
bitterly  antagonized  Clay  on  one  side  and  Calhoun,  who  in  1828 
had  been  elected  Vice-President  on  the  same  ticket  with  himself, 
on  the  other.  On  the  nullification  of  the  Tariff  Act  by  South 
Carolina,  Jackson  had  forced  through  Congress  his  Force  Bill, 
and  had  taken  such  measures  against  South  Carolina  as  drove  off 
from  him  many  of  the  State's  Rights  men  in  North  Carolina, 
among  them  Mr.  Carson.  At  the  election  of  1832  Jackson  was 
re-elected  and  Carson  was  defeated  in  his  district ;  but  in  1834  he 
was  elected  by  his  county  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  his  people 
at  home  being  devoted  to  him.  His  health,  however,  was  feeble, 
and  he  resolved  in  1835  to  move  to  Texas,  then  struggling  to  free 
herself  from  the  oppressions  of  Mexico.  He  made  a  journey  to 
that  distant  country,  and  on  his  return  found  that  Burke  County 
had  elected  him  a  delegate  to  represent  her  in  the  constitutional 
convention  that  was  to  be  held  in  June  of  that  year.  His  brother, 
Joseph  McDowell  Carson,  was  also  a  delegate  in  the  same  con- 
vention from  Rutherford  County.  In  that  body  he  voted  for 
removing  the  restrictions  on  Catholics  in  regard  to  holding  office, 
and  for  the  election  of  the  governor  by  the  people  for  the  term 
of  two  years,  and  against  Judge  Gaston's  amendment  allowing 
free  negroes  to  vote,  provided  they  possessed  $500  worth  of  prop- 
erty and  had  not  been  convicted  of  any  infamous  crime,  the  vote 
in  the  convention  being  55  in  the  affirmative  and  64  in  the  negative. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  session,  when  the  venerable  Nathaniel 
Macon  was  tendered  the  thanks  of  the  convention  for  the  manner 
in  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  president,  Mr.  Carson  rose 
and  expressed  a  hope  that  "that  mark  of  well-deserved  respect 
to  their  venerable  friend  for  probably  the  last  public  act  of  his  life 
would  be  testified  by  the  members  of  the  convention  standing," 
and  every  man  in  the  convention  rose  in  response.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  Mr.  Macon's  remarks,  and  when  the  applause  of  the 
convention  had  ceased,  Mr.  Carson  himself  arose  and  said  "that 
he  was  about  to  leave  old  North  Carolina  to  reside  in  the  far 
West,  where  he  should  be  happy  at  all  times  to  see  any  friend 


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SAMUEL  PRICE  CARSON  63 

from  the  old  State — to  be  a  North  Carolinian  would  be  a  sufficient 
recommendation ;  his  house  and  corn  crib  should  be  at  the  service 
of  his  friends." 

The  next  year  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Texas,  where  in 
the  same  year  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  convention  of 
Texas,  the  body  which  created  the  Republic ;  and  he  was  sent  as 
a  commissioner  to  Washington  City  to  intercede  for  the  recog- 
nition of  the  Lone  Star  Republic  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

In  May,  1831,  Mr.  Carson  had  married  Catherine,  a  daughter 
of  James  Wilson  of  Tennessee,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter, 
who  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  J.  McDowell  Whitson  of  Talladega, 
Alabama,  a  descendant  of  Mr.  John  McDowell,  whose  daughter 
was  the  first  wife  of  Colonel  John  Carson. 

Mr.  Carson's  health  continued  feeble  in  his  Western  home,  and 
in  November,  1840,  he  died  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas. 

S,  A.  Ashe. 


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RICHARD   COGDELL 


his  "History  of  North  Carolina"  (II,  89,  note), 
Dr.  Hawks  says  that  the  family  of  Cogdell 
is  of  Swiss  origin,  and  descended  from  one 
of  the  members  of  Baron  de  Graffenried's 
colony  at  New-Bern,  North  Carolina.  The 
name  was  written  Coxdaile  in  the  earlier 
records  at  New-Bern. 

The  most  noted  member  of  this  family  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  and  just  prior  thereto  was  Colonel  Richard  Cogdell, 
whose  home  was  in  New-Bern.  He  was  born  July  8,  1724,  and 
was  the  eldest  of  the  fourteen  children  of  George  Cogdell  and  his 
v/ife,  Margaret  Bell. 

Colonel  Cogdeirs  first  military  service  in  time  of  war  was 
during  the  insurrection  of  the  Regulators  in  1771,  when  he  held 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army  of  Governor  Tryon.  In 
the  year  following  he  was  promoted  to  the  full  rank  of  colonel. 

Being  in  high  favor  with  the  existing  authorities  prior  to  the 
Revolution,  Colonel  Cogdell's  personal  interests  might  have  tempted 
him  to  take  no  part  in  the  movements  looking  to  a  change  in  the 
form  of  government,  yet  he  w^s  among  the  very  earliest  to  support 
the  rights  of  America  against  the  unjust  claims  of  Great  Britain. 
He  was  a  delegate  from  Craven  County  to  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress which  assembled  at  New-Bern  in  August,  1774,  despite  the 
efforts  of  Governor  Josiah  Martin  to  prevent  its  meeting.    In  a 


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RICHARD  COGDELL  65 

similar  Congress  at  New-Bern  in  April,  1775,  he  was  also  a  dele- 
gate from  Craven,  as  he  was  also  to  the  third  Congress  held  at 
Hillsboro.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Colonel  Cogdell's  services 
in  the  cause  of  the  colonies  were  of  an  important  nature  long 
before  independence  was  declared.  Another  position  held  by  him 
prior  to  the  date  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  the  New-Bern  district.  To  this 
committee  he  was  elected  on  September  9,  1775.  Of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  for  Craven  County  he  was  chairman.  Colonel 
Cogdell  was  very  active  and  zealous.  The  determined  action 
of  himself  and  associates  in  raising  an  independent  company  at 
New-Bern  so  alarmed  the  governor  that  about  May  27th  Governor 
Martin  fled  from  his  palace  and  took  refuge  in  Fort  Johnston,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear.  Colonel  Harvey  died  in  May,  and  on 
May  31st  the  Wilmington  committee  wrote  to  Sam  Johnston, 
who  succeeded  Harvey  as  moderator,  urging  him  to  convene 
another  Congress.  In  forwarding  this  letter  on  the  8th  of  June 
Colonel  Cogdell  joined  in  that  recommendation,  and  also  men- 
tioned that  the  Citizens  of  Craven  were  then  signing  the  associa- 
tion and  the  militia  were  electing  their  officers.  On  the  31st  of 
May  the  committee  of  Mecklenburg  adopted  resolves  establishing 
a  free  and  independent  local  government,  based  on  the  suffrage 
of  the  people.  These  resolves  were  printed  in  the  New-Bern 
Gazette  on  June  16,  and  on  the  i8th  of  June  Cogdell  sent  the  paper 
to  Sam  Johnston  and  wrote  to  him :  '*  You  will  observe  the  Meck- 
lenburg resolves  exceed  all  other  committees,  or  the  Congress 
itself.  I  send  you  the  paper  wherein  they  are  inserted,  as  I  hope 
this  will  soon  come  to  hand."  On  June  23,  1775,  Colonel  Cogdell 
was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  force  which  seized  the  six  pieces  of 
artillery  in  front  of  the  palace  at  New-Bern  directly  after  the  flight 
of  Josiah  Martin,  the  last  of  the  royal  governors.  On  the  7th  of 
September,  1775,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners 
whose  duty  it  was  to  sign  the  paper  currency  of  the  colony.  Colonel 
Cogdell  was  elected  judge  of  the  Court  of  Admiralty  on  April  25, 
1776.  On  May  12,  1779,  he  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  district  of 
New-Bern.  Twice  during  the  Revolution  he  was  a  member  of  the 


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66  NORTH  CAROLINA 

North  Carolina  House  of  Commons  from  the  town  of  New-Bern, 
serving  in  the  sessions  of  1778  and  1779.  A  warm  promoter  of 
education,  as  early  as  1764  he  was  a  trustee  of  the  New-Bern 
Academy. 

Colonel  Cogdell  married  Lydia  Duncan  on  the  8th  of  July,  1752, 
and  had  by  her  nine  children,  as  follows:  Ann  Cogdell,  who 
married  John  Wright  Stanly ;  Margaret,  who  married  John  Green ; 
Phoebe ;  Richard,  who  married  Nancy  Ormond ;  Sarah ;  Susannah, 
who  married  first  Wright  Stanly  and  secondly  Bela  Badger; 
Charles ;  John ;  and  Lydia,  who  married  Thomas  Badger,  and  who 
was  the  mother  of  the  North  Carolina  statesman,  Judge  George 
E.  Badger,  United  States  senator,  secretary  of  the  navy,  etc. 

Colonel  Cogdell  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  hold- 
ing his  membership  in  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  3,  at  New-Bern. 
His  death  occurred  on  the  loth  of  May,  1787. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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JOHN     DAVES 

[HE  patriotic  town  of  New-Bern  sent  many  brave 
soldiers  to  the  field  in  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  none  of  these  bore  a  more  honorable 
part  in  that  conflict  than  John  Daves,  who  re- 
tired from  the  service  at  the  close  of  hostilities 
as  a  captain  of  Continentals,  and  became  a 
major  of  State  troops  in  North  Carolina  several  years  after  the 
return  of  peace.  He  was  a  native  of  Mecklenburg  County,  in 
Virginia,  and  1748  was  the  date  of  his  birth.  In  1770,  or  shortly 
prior  thereto,  he  came  to  New-Bern,  where  several  of  his  relatives 
had  already  settled.  The  first  purchase  of  land  in  New-Bern  made 
by  him  was  on  the  2Sth  of  October,  1770.  This  was  a  town  lot  on 
what  was  then  called  Eden  Street.  He  later  purchased  other  lots 
and  country  tracts  as  well,  becoming  the  owner  of  extensive  landed 
property  prior  to  his  death. 

The  first  wife  of  Mr.  Daves  was  Sally  Bryan,  a  daughter  of 
John  Council  Bryan  of  New-Bern,  and  the  only  issue  of  this 
marriage  was  a  son,  who  was  named  for  his  father  and  died  young. 
This  child  was  predeceased  by  its  mother. 

Though  the  earliest  record  of  the  service  of  Mr.  Daves  in  the 
Revolution  gives  him  an  officer's  rank  in  the  Continentals,  or 
Regulars,  there  is  a  tradition  among  his  descendants  that  his  first 
military  experience  in  that  war  was  as  a  volunteer  in  the  forces 
of  Colonel  Richard  Caswell  throughout  the  campaign  which  re- 


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68  NORTH  CAROLINA 

suited  in  the  decisive  American  victory  at  the  battle  of  Moore's 
Creek  Bridge  on  February  27,  1776. 

Mr.  Daves  became  quartermaster  of  the  Second  North  Carolina 
Continental  Regiment  on  June  7,  1776,  his  colonel  being  Alexander 
Martin,  afterward  governor  of  the  State.  Martin's  predecessor 
as  colonel  was  Robert  Howe,  who  had  recently  been  made  a 
brigadier-general,  and  later  rose  to  the  rank  of  major-general. 
The  Second  Regiment  being  assigned  to  the  brigade  of  General 
James  Moore,  which  was  made  up  at  Wilmington  in  the  summer 
of  1776,  it  repaired  to  its  appointed  station  in  due  season.  Wish- 
ing to  be  relieved  from  his  position  as  a  staff  officer,  Quarter- 
master Daves  was  transferred  from  that  position  and  commissioned 
ensign,  September  30, 1776,  in  a  company  of  the  Second  Reg^ent, 
commanded  by  Captain  Charles  Crawford,  also  an  officer  from 
New-Bern.  Toward  the  end  of  1776  the  brigade  was  ordered  to 
join  Washington's  army  in  the  North,  but  while  the  North  Caro- 
linians were  on  their  line  of  march,  and  had  reached  Halifax,  they 
were  ordered  to  return  and  proceed  to  the  relief  of  Georgia.  They 
were  stopped  by  another  countermanding  order  at  Charleston, 
and  remained  in  that  vicinity  for  some  months.  General  Moore 
died  January  15,  1777,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  command  of  the 
North  Carolina  Brigade  by  General  Francis  Nash.  Under  Nash 
the  North  Carolina  troops  joined  Washington's  forces  in  the  smn- 
mer  of  1777.  In  the  actions  at  Germantown  and  Brandy  wine 
Ensign  Daves  was  engaged,  and  for  his  bravery  in  the  latter  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  his  commission  dating 
from  the  day  of  the  battle,  October  4,  1777.  At  Germantown  his 
brigade  commander,  General  Nash,  was  killed,  as  were  also  many 
other  officers  from  North  Carolina,  this  State  leading  all  others 
in  the  losses  of  that  day.  Colonel  John  Patten  succeeded  to  the 
command  of  the  Second  Regiment,  November  22,  1777.  Lieu- 
tenant Daves  bore  a  share  in  the  sufferings  of  the  winter  of 
1777-78  at  Valley  Forge.  In  the  spring  of  1778  he  was  on  re- 
cruiting duty  in  North  Carolina.  He  was  in  the  fight  at  Mon- 
mouth on  the  28th  of  June,  1778.  The  winter  of  1778-79  he 
spent  in  camp  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey.    He  was  one  of  the 


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JOHN  DAVES  69 


officers  selected  to  serve  under  Major  Hardy  Murfree  in  Wayne's 
forlorn  hope  in  the  capture  of  Stony  Point  on  July  16,  1779, 
and  was  severely  wounded  in  that  desperate  and  successful  enter- 
prise. In  November,  1779,  the  North  Carolina  troops  were 
ordered  to  re-enforce  General  Benjamin  Lincoln  in  South  Caro- 
lina, but  did  not  reach  Charleston  till  the  13th  of  March,  1780. 
When  the  American  garrison  at  Charleston  was  surrendered  by 
Lincoln  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton  on  May  12,  1780,  Lieutenant  Daves 
was  made  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  was  not  exchanged  till  June,  1781. 
Practically  all  of  the  North  Carolina  regulars  being  lost  to  the 
service  by  the  capitulation  of  Charleston,  the  Continental  regi- 
ments of  the  State  were  rearranged,  and  by  this  means  Lieutenant 
Daves  was  transferred  to  the  Third  Regiment  of  these  "new 
levies"  on  January  i,  1781,  while  still  a  prisoner.  After  his 
release  he  fought  at  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  September  8, 
1 781,  and  for  his  gallantry  there,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
captain,  his  commission  dating  from  the  day  on  which  the  battle 
was  fought.  Captain  Daves  was  "deranged,"  or  retired,  and  placed 
on  waiting  orders  in  January,  1783,  and  honorably  mustered 
out  in  November  of  the  same  year.  He  became  a  major  of  cavalry 
in  the  North  Carolina  State  troops  on  the  5th  of  January,  1787. 

In  the  year  1783,  when  the  war  was  over,  Captain  Daves  aided 
in  organizing  the  North  Carolina  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  This 
order  in  North  Carolina  later  became  dormant,  and  Professor 
Edward  Graham  Daves  (grandson  of  Captain  Daves)  joined  the 
Maryland  Society  in  1884.  When  the  North  Carolina  Society 
was  revived  in  1896,  John  Collins  Daves,  son  and  successor  of 
Professor  Daves,  was  one  of  its  charter  members,  and  is  now  its 
vice-president.  Major  Graham  Daves,  brother  of  Professor  Daves, 
was  an  honorary  member  of  the  revived  society  in  North  Carolina 
and  vice-president  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

After  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  Major  Daves  was  appointed 
collector  of  the  port  of  New-Bern  by  President  Washington.  He 
was  also  appointed  by  Washington  to  the  office  of  "Inspector  of 
Surveys  and  Ports  of  No.  2  District — Port  of  New-Bern."  Be- 
fore North  Carolina  went  into  the  Union,  Major  Daves  was 


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70  NORTH  CAROLINA 

collector  of  the  port  of  Beaufort.  He  was  a  vestryman  of  Christ 
Church,  and  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  belonging 
to  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  3,  of  New-Bern,  which  was  chartered 
before  the  Revolution  by  Provincial  Grand  Master  Joseph 
Montfort. 

The  death  of  Major  Daves  occurred  on  the  12th  of  October, 
1804.  The  Raleigh  Register  of  October  29th  in  that  year  con- 
tains this  brief  notice  of  his  death : 

"Died,  at  New-Bern,  on  the  12th  instant,  Major  John  Daves,  a  Revo- 
lutionary officer  of  great  respectability.  His  remains  were  interred  with 
military  and  Masonic  honors." 

The  remains  of  Major  John  Daves  rested  at  New-Bern  till 
June,  1893,  when  his  descendants  had  them  removed  to  the  Guil- 
ford Battle  Ground,  near  Greensboro,  where  they  now  repose. 

In  April,  1782,  when  the  war  was  practically  over,  the  second 
marriage  of  Major  John  Daves  took  place.  The  lady  he  then 
married  was  Mrs.  Mary  Davis,  widow  of  Oroondatis  Davis,  and 
daughter  of  Andrew  Haynes  by  his  wife  Nannie  Eaton.  Major 
Daves  was  her  third  husband,  she  having  been  the  wife  of  Joseph 
Long  of  Halifax  before  marrying  Mr.  Davis. 

By  his  marriage  as  above,  Major  Daves  had  four  children,  as 
follows:  Sally  Eaton,  who  married  Morgan  Jones  of  Maryland 
in  1 80 1  and  died  in  New-Bern  in  1802,  leaving  an  only  child, 
Mary  McKinlay  Jones  (name  changed  to  Pugh  by  adoption),  who 
married  the  Hon.  Andrew  R.  Govan ;  Anne  Rebecca,  who  married 
Josiah  Collins  of  Edenton,  North  Carolina;  John  Pugh,  who 
was  three  times  married:  first  to  Mary  Bryan  Hatch,  second  to 
Jane  Reid  Henry,  and  third  to  Elizabeth  Batchelor  Graham ;  and 
Thomas  Haynes,  who  married  Harriet  Hatch,  and  moved  in  1836 
to  Alabama,  where  he  died  in  1839,  leaving  descendants. 

Among  the  children  of  the  above-named  John  Pugh  Daves  and 
Elizabeth  B.  Graham  were  the  late  Professor  Edward  Graham 
Daves  and  Major  Graham  Daves,  both  well  known  as  men  of 
letters.  Major  Graham  Daves  published  in  1892  a  pamphlet 
biography  of  his  ancestor.  Major  John  Daves  of  the  Revolution. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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THE  N'JV.'  YC:'K 

PUBLIC  Lirr.ArxY 


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Gi:f>RGK    DAVIS 

^iO^.^/  all  tlu*  irrcat  nun  wl.o  ba\>'  a<!   iii'-'l  t'.c 
aisii  U  ui    N'orlh   Cin.iin.i  n.j  <)iio  «'.   ".x*-   to 

n-iT    I  rc'l    liiiii    illll-tric»ll.^,    w^^iW'    his    al.  '    ••"^. 

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- '    ' -1     At  Ti^^-  f-T!     utratiH^  iiiu»n  t>.c  a'-l^itios  '  f  ]\\-  he  W'-n 

••   -'^  ;  t   "■(  hi:    a.->  >'■»<.  iat '  >,  »  "ui   as  the  y.irs  {-'i^S'hI   he  t;ro\v 

■;»    L-'iinaMon   uiiti!   he  attaiiic*!   the   [u»si'tir»n  of  the   n  ost 

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r^     h«i'>v''(i    for    h'?    p^"rs(«nal    c\C(.ll'"'"'c    aiul    vc:i' rdWul 

•  »iri»'tism  an<l  t(>r  the  rx''':r.l  sf  iitiriients  wh.ich  ana.ia^cd 
•'  ^  .•  '/  spl.iTC  of  life. 

'»%•»•    1 1   fhsMrif^ii'^h^-H   I;iK'iij:c.     Aip<'I1;^  liif   an-.vsiors   \va*^^ 

r   M  •re.   vlt'srerKJcd,  savs  tiic   IH-hrian   IhuKe,   "fioiii   an 

.*    :    -.-h    larniiy,   aiul   nuich.   cel'hratcd   air.onj^  Ws  ooui^'-y- 

.     ,.•'   r    a-.ui    v'ai»acity,    who   first    f«'rnie(l    the    prr-Hit    (f 

J    'ii:    I'.iij.Mirh    from    Irrlaiid,   and    in    ir^r    cn^a;    .1    .)•! 

-   •  *   liie  n.itive  Tri>h.   .ri  t!ie  aV.'Miip*  lo  as^«.  it  the  !  '  '.t - 

•  •   ■:    h'S    L'lin^ry."     Two   years    Liter   ..noth'T   a'u  ci-t' r, 

e.\n  ai>.  who  coiirapon^rv  h^M  tin  citv  of  i'.ris^'i 
K\'^  X  ^^«»•*^  f^-ndeniiRMl  and  cxet'iito;!  hy  the  biirAC>'^f'd 
'   I*  ir.'in-.:-nt  'heeause  (f  hi"^   ^^t^-ut   <iefi"!i«ie  o^*   the   tr':>t 

1    r-    hi^    keeping;.      In   tic    X»*w'    \\'(.rhl,    when    James 


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GKORGK    DAVIS 

.'<'>X(i  all  i1ic«  iirrcat  nwn  \\\:r.  havr  ar'.-riu-.l  tl;o 
aii'.aU  (>i    y.iitli   (\M\!'i\a   wu  '"mic   «''.    «. ;  v .  '   to 

roTi<V-r«']    hiiii    ilin-trj()l•^,    w'^'ic    h\>    al  i''  os, 

ci^I'un    and  ]''.i:»!ir  v;f-rvioi'v  y:.   (•<!   f.,r  Imli  an 

rini.t-nrt    t'lat   n«  ■  orlicr    Ncrth   (  .-!r,.!iiiicin   r:\> 

'\»  I>'s  tir  t  fi.trat  .o  upon  tlie  arti\i;i  s  «  i  li'*-/  ho  \\<^n 

'••  .  l   '  i'   !i'     as>'xiat'  .,  d-al  a^  T'k-  y.'irs  p:'>^«\i   ht*  i^rew 

V    .   t.ir.rjtoii  uim'   lio  atiaiiu'fl  tho   p'-^ltiru  of  the  n-ost 

.!':/'. '1  of  the  St<it«\     He  was  a<hiiir«"(^   for  l.ii  l<'a^n'i^g 

rt     '.i'^vf!    I'T    I. is    pi  psonal   rKC' li  'Ve    .'iii'l    v«  !.'-Tateti 

;  -.rri'^f-P)  an«l  for  t!ic  t-xpU*:-]  sc?iti'ii<  nts  wh'-^h  aiiauati-d 

'    •  '  V  >j)i:'  re  of  life. 

a^      1   disMngviisht.'fl  lineage.      Atr«'»n^   hi:-   ari'-rstn-s   wa^ 

!'--r'^.   ii«.*scen(icd,  snvs   the   Hi^t'-rim    IIuiiio,   "fi  :m  an 

i'-^h    family,   and   nnich   eel' iu-.»tr-d   aii.oii^   !i\s   c'>':n«.v- 

.al'  r    and    t.ipaeity,    who   first    f'»rT>(.d    the    pi-'c?    ;f 

th<-    iai^.didi    from    Irchiiai,   arul    in    }h\i    en^^^;.  '    a! 

•  !   lh«    n.i'lve   [risli   m  the  aMciriv   tn  a>-t:t  ll.i-   '.:   \- - 

•  f      i^    ccamtrN."      Two    vcar«;   lat^  r   an  ithvT  a".'  ^t»r, 

.  -'naiT^    v.Iio    c«.'iira:rj  t'n.sfy    h^M    th.e    eity    of    I^>ri-t  ^l 

''  '^i;.   \sas   rondenined   and   exec'itc'l   hy   the   sucvc^r^'il 

i  .irhaniont   i>ecanse  of  his   stout  (k-ft'nse  o^  tlie   ti"st 

'.    *«     h'^   keeping.      In   th-^    X'-w    WurKl,    wh.en   Jaims 


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GEORGE   DAVIS 


^MONG  all  the  great  men  who  have  adorned  the 
annals  of  North  Carolina  no  one  deserves  to 
take  precedence  of  George  Davis,  whose  virtues 
rendered  him  illustrious,  while  his  abilities, 
culture  and  public  services  gained  for  him  an 
eminence  that  no  other  North  Carolinian  has 
enjoyed.  At  his  first  entrance  upon  the  activities  of  life  he  won 
the  respect  of  his  associates,  and  as  the  years  passed  he  grew 
in  public  estimation  until  he  attained  the  position  of  the  most 
eminent  citizen  of  the  State.  He  was  admired  for  his  learning 
and  talent,  beloved  for  his  personal  excellence  and  venerated 
for  his  patriotism  and  for  the  exalted  sentiments  which  animated 
him  in  every  sphere  of  life. 

He  was  of  distinguished  lineage.  Among  his  ancestors  was 
Roger  Moore,  descended,  says  the  Historian  Hume,  "from  an 
ancient  Irish  family,  and  much  celebrated  among  his  country- 
men for  valor  and  capacity,  who  first  formed  the  project  of 
expelling  the  English  from  Ireland,  and  in  1641  engaged  all 
the  heads  of  the  native  Irish  in  the  attempt  to  assert  the  inde- 
pendence of  his  country."  Two  years  later  another  ancestor, 
Robert  Yeamans,  who  courageousfy  held  the  city  of  Bristol 
for  the  King,  was  condemned  and  executed  by  the  successful 
forces  of  Parliament  because  of  his  stout  defense  of  the  trust 
committed  to  his  keeping.     In  the  New  World,  when  James 


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72  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Moore,  who  had  won  high  fame  as  a  general,  and  who,  in  1703, 
was  governor  of  South  Carolina,  married  Elizabeth,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  John  Yeamans,  the  first  governor  of  Carolina, 
these  two  streams  of  blood  mingled,  and  in  every  succeeding 
generation  there  have  sprung  from  this  famous  stock  men  of 
the  highest  type  of  exalted  manhood. 

Mr.  Davis  was  entirely  the  product  of  Cape  Fear  influences. 
For  a  century  his  people  had  been  among  the  first  in  social  stand- 
ing in  that  part  of  North  Carolina,  and  enjoyed  a  society  not 
surpassed  in  excellence  elsewhere  in  America. 

The  Davis  family  came  from  South  Carolina  to  the  Cape 
Fear  about  the  time  of  the  permanent  settlement  in  1725,  and 
their  association  was  with  the  most  considerable  planters  on 
that  river.  In  a  later  generation  Thomas  Davis,  whose  mother 
was  a  Miss  Assup,  an  Irish  lady,  married  Mary  Moore,  a  grand- 
daughter of  both  "King"  Roger  Moore  and  John  Baptista 
Ashe;  their  son,  Thomas  F.  Davis,  married  Sarah  Isabella 
Eagles,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Eagles,  a  gentleman  of  elegant 
culture,  and  she  became  the  mother  of  Thomas  F.  Davis  and  of 
George  Davis.  The  former  began  life  as  a  lawyer,  and  then, 
entering  the  ministry,  became  the  bishop  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  South  Carolina.  The  latter  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

Mr.  George  Davis  is  descended  from  Major  Alexander  Lilling- 
ton  and  Colonel  Sam  Swann  of  the  Albemarle  colony  and  of 
Sir  John  Yeamans  and  Governor  Moore  of  the  South  Carolina 
colony,  as  well  as  from  other  equally  worthy  lines  of  colonial 
ancestors;  and  he  was  among  the  representatives  of  those  men 
whose  axes  had  first  rung  in  the  forests  of  the  Cape  Fear,  of 
those  who  had  been  prominently  connected  with  the  history  of 
the  two  Carolinas  from  the  time  of  the  first  settlement  and  who 
had  been  actors  in  the  most  interesting  episodes  of  the  history 
of  the  Cape  Fear.  With  such  traditions  he  grew  to  man's 
estate,  a  worthy  scion  of  an  illustrious  stock,  and  in  his  own 
career  he  exemplified  the  virtues  and  excellence  he  had  inherited 
while  shedding  additional  luster  on  the  name  of  his  native  State. 


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GEORGE  DAVIS  73 


He  was  born  on  March  i,  1820,  on  his  father's  plantation  at 
Porter's  Neck,  then  in  New  Hanover  County,  and  after  being 
taught  by  that  excellent  instructor,  Mr.  W.  H.  Hardin,  at 
Pittsboro,  he  was  prepared  for  college  by  Mr.  M.  A.  Curtis, 
later  the  distinguished  minister  and  botanist,  who  was  then 
employed  by  Governor  Dudley  as  a  tutor  for  his  children.  How 
diligent  he  was  in  his  studies  and  how  capable  as  a  student  is 
attested  by  his  entering  the  University  of  North  Carolina  while 
still  in  his  fourteenth  year,  and  graduating  at  eighteen  with 
the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  In  his  valedictory  address  he 
gave  evidence  even  at  that  early  age  of  mature  thought  and 
ripe  scholarship.  He  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law 
with  the  earnest  purpose  to  excel  in  his  profession,  and  in  the 
year  1840  obtained  his  license  to  practice  law,  but  was  not  admitted 
to  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  State  until  1841,  when  he  attained 
his  majority. 

That  he  was  gifted  with  rare  powers  of  oratory  soon  became 
evident,  but  he  did  not  rely  on  forensic  eloquence  for  success. 
He  realized  that  law  is  a  jealous  mistress,  and  he  sought  to 
win  professional  rewards  by  close  and  severe  study  and  by 
painstaking  preparation,  seldom  equalled  among  the  lawyers  of 
North  Carolina.  First  and  last  he  was  a  student  of  the  law; 
but  he  did  not  neglect  that  high  culture  that  contributed  to  make 
him  an  ornament  of  his  profession.  While  becoming  well  versed 
in  every  department  of  legal  learning,  he  also  maintained  a  familiar 
acquaintance  with  the  classics,  and  was  an  appreciative  student 
of  general  literature.  He  thus  developed  not  only  into  the  learned 
lawyer,  but  into  the  man  of  letters,  the  polished  gentleman,  and 
withal,  the  eloquent  advocate.  The  Wilmington  bar,  ever  strong, 
never  was  stronger  than  during  Mr.  Davis's  career ;  and  he  found 
competitors  calling  for  his  best  efforts  and  requiring  the  exercise 
of  his  highest  powers ;  but  by  diligence  and  painstaking  accuracy 
he  successfully  coped  on  many  a  field  with  the  strongest  and  most 
distinguished  of  his  adversaries. 

On  November  17,  1842,  he  married  Mary  A.  Polk,  a  daughter 
of  Thomas  G.  Polk,  and  a  great-granddaughter  of  Thomas  Polk, 


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74  NORTH  CAROLINA 

one  of  the  signers  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, a  lady  of  rare  loveliness  of  character  and  of  person, 
and  in  full  sympathy  with  the  elegant  tastes  of  her  husband. 

Cast  by  nature  in  the  mold  of  his  noble  ancestors,  Mr.  Davis 
equalled  them  in  personal  characteristics  and  social  accomplish- 
ments, while  surpassing  them  in  literary  attainments.  He  had 
a  charming  personality,  was  dark  rather  than  a  blond,  was  of 
medium  height,  with  rounded  limbs  well  knit;  carried  his  head 
with  an  easy  poise,  was  gracious  in  his  manner,  and  possessed  the 
art  of  pleasing  to  a  remarkable  degree.  Full  of  information,  quick 
and  with  a  ready  mind,  he  excelled  in  conversation  and  was  a 
delightful  companion.  With  all  the  manly  characteristics  of  his 
race,  he  was  bold  and  courageous  when  need  be,  but  was  ever 
the  polished,  kindly  gentleman. 

Like  his  brother,  the  saintly  bishop,  he  was  pure  in  thought 
and  action,  and  a  devout  Christian.  Familiar  with  the  trend 
of  scientific  thought,  he  was  never  shaken  in  the  belief  he  had 
learned  at  his  mother's  knee;  but  all  hard  matters  of  religious 
import  that  passed  his  comprehension  he  humbly  relegated  to 
the  realm  of  faith,  and  he  accepted  with  a  clear  conscience  what 
was  hidden  in  obscurity  or  beyond  his  understanding.  Tolerant 
of  human  infirmities,  he  pursued  the  tenor  of  his  life  so  evenly 
as  never  to  have  excited  animosities ;  but  he  so  despised  a  mean- 
ness and  duplicity  that  such  an  action  aroused  his  wrathful  indig- 
nation, and  he  could  neither  spare  a  miscreant  nor  refrain  from 
denouncing  any  deflection  from  fair  dealing  and  honorable  con- 
duct. Such  was  the  man  himself,  of  a  tender  and  affectionate 
nature,  a  polished,  courtly  gentleman,  loyal  and  steadfast  in  his 
friendships,  with  high  ideals  and  lofty  purposes.  His  motto  seems 
to  have  been  Thoroughness  and  his  guiding  star  Truth. 

He  was  always  at  home  among  his  books,  and  he  made  friends 
of  the  choicest  authors.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  give  an  elevated 
tone  to  all  his  addresses,  even  to  those  hastily  delivered,  on  a 
sudden  occasion,  in  the  court-house,  and  his  reputation  grew  as 
an  elegant  as  well  as  eloquent  orator. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1855,  he  delivered  an  address  before  the 


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GEORGE  DAVIS  75 


two  literary  societies  of  the  University  on  the  "Early  Men  and 
Times  of  the  Lower  Cape  Fear,"  which  is  not  only  delightful 
in  its  style  of  narrative,  but  abounds  in  flights  of  genuine  elo- 
quence. The  next  year  he  delivered  a  literary  address  before  the 
Greensboro  Female  College,  which  has  been  regarded  by  many 
as  one  of  the  best  efforts  of  his  life.  In  i860  Edward  Everett, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Association,  delivered 
at  Wilmington,  as  at  many  other  places,  his  famous  address  on 
the  "Life  and  Character  of  General  Washington."  He  was  intro- 
duced by  Mr.  Davis.  In  Everett's  Diary,  which  has  been  pub- 
lished, he  said  that  during  the  course  of  all  his  travels  he  had  met 
but  one  man  who  he  thought  was  of  superior  excellence  to  himself 
as  an  orator — Mr.  George  Davis  of  Wilmington. 

Mr.  Davis's  reputation  constantly  grew  as  an  able,  great 
lawyer  and  as  an  unsurpassed  advocate,  and  when  he  was  to 
speak  in  the  court-house  great  crowds  attended  to  hear  him. 
In  politics  he  was  a  Whig,  and  the  State  and  his  district  being 
Democratic,  there  were  no  avenues  open  to  him  to  political  pre- 
ferment, even  if  his  disposition  had  been  to  enter  upon  a  public 
career.  But  official  life  had  no  attractions  for  him ;  still,  he  became 
the  mentor  of  his  party  in  that  section  of  North  Carolina,  and 
he  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  all  the  citizens  without 
respect  to  party  affiliations. 

When  in  i860  the  shadow  of  a  great  national  convulsion  settled 
over  the  country,  the  patriotic  leaders  in  North  Carolina  were 
divided  in  their  views.  No  man  surpassed  Mr.  Davis  in  manhood 
or  in  devotion  to  the  welfare  and  honor  of  his  people,  but  he  loved 
the  Union,  and  steadfastly  counselled  moderation.  The  people 
of  North  Carolina  shared  his  sentiments,  and  on  January  26, 
1 861,  the  legislature  appointed  commissioners  to  represent  the 
State  at  Montgomery,  at  Richmond,  and  in  a  peace  congress 
called  by  Virginia  to  meet  at  Washington  City,  with  the  purpose 
of  endeavoring  to  secure  a  peaceful  solution  of  sectional  differ- 
ences ;  and  Mr.  Davis  was  one  of  those  who  attended  the  Peace 
Congress  at  Washington  on  February  4,  1861,  which  was  in 
session  three  weeks.    In  that  Congress  North  Carolina  and  Vir- 


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76  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ginia  voted  against  every  article  adopted  but  one;  still,  as  weak 
as  the  report  was,  it  ifras  not  acceptable  to  those  who  controlled 
the  Federal  Congress.  Up  to  this  time  the  Union  sentiment  in 
North  Carolina  had  been  strong.  On  the  return  of  Mr.  Davis, 
he  was  solicited  to  deliver  an  address  upon  the  situation,  which 
he  did  at  Wilmington  on  March  2d.  This  address  has  been 
regarded  as  a  masterpiece  of  oratory.  The  people  were  profoundly 
moved  and  the  hearts  of  all  were  deeply  stirred.  Mr.  Davis  said 
he  had  gone  to  the  Peace  Congress  to  exhaust  every  means  to 
obtain  a  fair  and  honorable  and  a  final  settlement  of  existing 
differences.  He  had  done  so  to  the  best  of  his  abilities,  and 
had  been  unsuccessful,  for  he  could  never  accept  the  plan  adopted 
by  the  Peace  Congress  as  consistent  with  the  rights,  the  inter- 
ests or  the  dignity  of  North  Carolina.  As  the  result  of  his 
address  and  of  his  position,  the  whole  Cape  Fear  became  united 
in  the  sentiment  and  feeling  that  there  was  no  hope  of  securing 
the  rights  of  North  Carolina  by  adhering  to  the  Union.  Such 
was  the  confidence  in  Mr.  Davis  that  the  people  followed  where 
he  led. 

When  President  Lincoln  called  for  North  Carolina's  quota  of 
troops  to  aid  in  coercing  the  Gulf  States  which  had  seceded, 
the  whole  State  at  once  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South,  and 
on  May  20th  the  State  seceded.  A  month  later  Mr.  Davis  and 
W.  W.  Avery  were  elected  senators  to  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress, and  in  1862  he  was  again  elected  to  that  position,  his 
associate  being  Hon.  W.  T.  Dortch.  In  the  Senate  Mr.  Davis's 
views  were  so  patriotic,  so  wise  and  just,  and  his  excellence 
was  so  highly  appreciated,  that  on  January  4,  1864,  President 
Davis  invited  him  to  become  the  attorney-general  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  and  he  continued  to  hold  that  position  of  dose 
association  with  the  President  and  as  legal  adviser  of  the  Con- 
federate Government  until  its  final  dissolution  at  Charlotte  on 
April  26,  1865. 

During  his  attendance  on  the  Peace  Congress,  and  while  he 
was  senator  and  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  at  Richmond,  Mr. 
Davis  was  thrown  in  close  contact  with  the  most  distinguished 


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GEORGE  DAVIS  77 


and  the  strongest  men  of  the  country,  and  he  at  once  took  high 
rank  among  them  because  of  his  accomplishments,  his  intellectual 
vigor  and  his  fervid  patriotism.  The  wife  of  President  Davis, 
who  had  long  been  associated  with  the  great  men  of  this  country, 
wrote  of  him :  "He  was  one  of  the  most  exquisitely  proportioned 
of  men.  His  mind  dominated  his  body,  but  his  heart  drew  him 
near  to  all  that  was  honorable  and  tender,  as  well  as  patriotic 
and  faithful  in  mankind.  He  was  never  dismayed  by  defeat. 
When  the  enemy  was  at  the  gates  of  Richmond  he  was  fully 
sensible  of  our  peril,  but  calm  in  the  hope  of  repelling  them ;  and 
if  this  failed,  certain  of  his  power  and  will  to  endure  whatever 
ills  had  been  reserved  for  him."  This  is  an  admirable  portrayal 
of  the  man.  He  was  manly  and  courageous,  as  well  as  endowed 
with  high  virtue  and  lofty  characteristics.  He  was  equal  to  the 
highest  station  in  social  life  and  the  most  responsible  duties  of 
oflScial  administration.  In  his  sphere  of  action  at  Richmond  he 
had  no  superior,  and  he  warmly  attached  to  him  all  who  were 
brought  in  contact  with  him,  and  he  exerted  a  strong  influence 
in  determining  the  action  of  the  Confederate  Government  in  all 
matters  of  legal  import. 

He  accompanied  the  President  to  Charlotte  at  the  time  of 
Lee's  surrender,  and  was  with  him  when  Johnston  furled  the 
last  flag,  and  he  was  filled  with  poignant  grief  at  the  overthrow 
of  the  Confederacy.  It  was  indeed  a  time  of  heartrending  woe 
and  fearful  anxiety;  woe  because  the  fabric  of  the  Confederate 
Government  had  fallen,  involving  the  most  cherished  hopes  in 
disaster ;  all  the  sacrifices  and  deaths  and  sufferings  of  the  South- 
cm  people  had  been  for  naught;  and  at  that  critical  moment 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  assassinated  by  the  fell  blow  of  a  demented 
actor;  and  the  North,  maddened  by  the  horrible  crime,  accused 
the  Confederate  authorities  with  having  procured  its  commission, 
and  cried  aloud  for  vengeance.  A  price  was  set  on  the  head  of 
President  Davis,  and  orders  issued  for  the  arrest  of  his  Cabinet. 
Mr.  George  Davis  was  greatly  distressed.  His  wife  had  died 
in  1863,  his  children  were  scattered,  and  he  had  become  engaged 
to  be  married  to  a  lady,  then  in  Richmond,  for  whose  safety  and 


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78  NORTH  CAROLINA 

welfare  he  felt  the  most  anxious  solicitude.  He  was  without  gold 
or  silver  or  any  means.  As  terrible  as  the  situation  was  to  all 
Confederates,  to  him  it  was  doubly  so.  He  first  sought  the  home 
of  his  good  brother,  the  bishop,  and  then,  like  other  high  officials, 
passed  down  into  Florida,  intent  on  escaping  to  British  soil,  and 
seeking  to  provide  for  his  children  and  fulfilling  the  obligations 
of  his  natural  affections.  It  was  several  months  before  he  could 
get  to  sea,  and  then  he  had  to  venture  in  a  small,  leaky  boat  with 
rotten  sails,  running  daily  the  hazard  of  shipwreck.  After  a 
month  beating  about  on  the  sea  unavailingly,  he  determined  to 
abandon  the  voyage  and  return  to  Key  West.  There  he  was 
arrested.  He  was  imprisoned  for  some  months  in  Fort  Hamilton, 
but  was  finally  released  on  parole  not  to  leave  the  State  of  North 
Carolina.  Returning  home,  he  gathered  his  children  around  him, 
and  again  opened  his  law  office  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  On  the  9th  of  May,  1866,  while  he  was  still  on 
his  parole.  Miss  Monimia  Fairfax  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  to 
whom  he  was  engaged,  became  his  wife,  and  their  union  was  a 
most  happy  one. 

Mr.  Davis  never  afterward  sought  or  held  political  office,  but 
he  gave  his  best  thought  to  the  solution  of  the  vexed  questions 
which  confronted  the  Southern  people  in  those  years  of  dire 
calamity.  He  was  the  wise  counsellor,  the  prudent  adviser  of 
those  who  blazed  a  way  out  of  the  difficult  wilderness  of  those 
evil  times.  In  1868,  when  the  question  was  of  acquiescing  in  the 
domination  of  the  negroes  and  their  leaders,  the  carpet-baggers, 
he  delivered  an  address  in  the  opera  house  at  Wilmington  which 
was  perhaps  the  most  admirable  political  effort  ever  made  in 
America.  And  on  other  occasions  he  also  made  memorable  ad- 
dresses. In  1876,  particularly,  he  electrified  a  great  audience 
with  one  of  his  splendid  efforts  of  oratory.  The  learned  Dr.  T.  B. 
Kingsbury,  whose  elegant  taste  and  discriminating  judgment  give 
particular  value  to  his  opinion,  said  of  it  in  the  Wilmington  Star, 
of  which  he  was  then  the  editor:  "There  was  humor,  there  was 
sarcasm,  there  was  an  exquisite  irony,  there  were  flashes  of  wit, 
there  was  an  outburst  of  corrosive  scorn  and  indignation  that  were 


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GEORGE  DAVIS  79 


wonderfully  artistic  and  effective.  At  times  a  felicity  of  illustra- 
tion would  arrest  your  attention,  and  a  grand  outburst  of  high  and 
ennobling  eloquence  would  thrill  you  with  the  most  pleasurable 
emotions.  The  taste  was  exceedingly  fine,  and  from  beginning  to 
end  the  workings  of  a  highly  cultured,  refined,  graceful  and  elegant 
mind  were  manifest.  There  were  passages  delivered  with  high 
dramatic  art  that  would  have  electrified  any  audience  on  earth.  If 
that  speech  had  been  delivered  before  an  Athenian  audience  in  the 
days  of  Pericles,  or  in  Rome  when  Cicero  thundered  forth  his  burn- 
ing and  sonorous  eloquence,  or  in  Westminster  Hall  with  Burke 
and  Fox  and  Sheridan  among  his  auditors,  he  would  have  received 
the  loudest  acclaim,  and  his  fame  would  have  gone  down  the  ages 
as  one  of  those  rarely  gifted  men  who  knew  well  how  to  use  his 
native  speech  and  to  play  with  the  touch  of  a  master  on  that  grand 
instrument,  the  human  heart.  We  could  refer  at  length,  if  oppor- 
tunity allowed,  to  the  scheme  of  his  argument,  to  his  magnificent 
peroration,  in  which  passion  and  imagination  swept  the  audience 
and  led  them  captive  at  the  will  of  the  magician ;  to  the  exquisitely 
apposite  illustration,  now  quaint  and  humorous,  and  then  delicate 
and  pathetic,  drawn  with  admirable  art  from  history  and  poetry 
and  the  sacred  Truth — to  these  and  other  points  we  might  refer, 
but  it  would  be  in  vain.  How  can  words,  empty  words,  repro- 
duce the  glowing  eloquence  and  entrancing  power  of  the  human 
voice,  when  that  voice  is  one  while  soft  as  Apollo's  lute,  or  reso- 
nant as  the  blast  of  a  bugle  under  the  influence  of  deep  passion? 
How  can  the  pen  convey  to  others  the  sweet  melody  of  harp  or 
viol,  or  how  can  human  language  bring  back  a  forgotten  strain, 
or  convey  an  exact  impression  that  is  made  by  the  tongue  of  fire 
when  burdened  with  a  majestic  eloquence?"  Indeed,  Mr.  Davis 
probably  had  no  equal  in  America  as  an  orator.  Some  may  have 
surpassed  him  in  some  of  the  elements  of  oratory,  but  taking  him 
all  in  all,  it  is  doubted  whether  any  one  has  measured  fully 
up  to  his  high  performance.  In  North  Carolina  Senator  Ransom 
has  made  some  addresses  worthy  to  be  mentioned  along  with 
Mr.  Davis's,  and  probably  Joseph  Alston  Hill  also  was  equal  to 
him  in  some  points,  but  other  than  these  there  has  been  in  this 


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8o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

State  no  masterful  orator  that  approximated  him  in  his  best 
orations. 

A  particular  incident  the  writer  recalls.  General  Lee  shortly 
before  his  death  paid  a  visit  to  Mr.  Davis,  and  the  presence  of 
that  beloved  and  revered  character  had  brought  him  still  closer 
to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  when  the  news  of  his  death  was 
announced  at  Wilmington  a  public  meeting  was  immediately  held, 
at  which  Mr.  Davis  made  some  remarks  appropriate  to  the  mourn- 
ful occasion.  He  appeared  dressed  in  black,  with  his  hands 
crossed  before  him,  his  posture  and  expression  betokening  the 
sorrow  he  felt  at  the  death  of  his  friend  and  of  the  passing  away 
of  the  great  Confederate  leader.  By  the  modulation  of  his  voice 
and  his  simple  words  of  grief,  he  so  moved  the  audience  that  in 
every  part  of  the  hall  men  wept,  and  there  was  an  exhibition  of 
public  woe  that  has  seldom  been  equalled. 

But  as  consummate  as  was  his  forensic  ability,  it  was  well 
matched  by  the  accuracy  of  his  learning  and  his  mastery  of 
the  technicalities  of  the  law.  He  was  painstaking  and  most 
careful.  It  has  been  said  that  a  man's  writing  is  an  index  to 
his  character;  and  even  here  his  habitual  carefulness  was  mani- 
fest, for  he  formed  each  letter  with  the  precision  of  a  clerk, 
and  his  sentences  were  clear,  precise,  and  left  no  room  for  any 
doubt  as  to  their  meaning.  The  quicksands  of  the  law  he  ever 
avoided,  and  he  conducted  the  affairs  committed  to  his  charge 
on  the  bed  rock  of  justice  and  legality.  He  was  employed  in  the 
most  important  litigation  of  his  section,  and  in  all  the  great 
railroad  matters  connected  with  the  lines  centering  in  Wil- 
mington; and  he  was  the  adviser  of  the  authorities  of  the 
Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad,  and  so  admirably  were  the 
affairs  of  that  ccnnpany  conducted  that  they  were  always  free 
from  legal  embarrassment.  When  the  sale  of  the  Western  North 
Carolina  Railroad  was  determined  on  in  1880,  he  was  employed, 
together  with  Judge  Thomas  Ruffin,  to  advise  the  legislature 
and  prepare  the  contract  of  sale,  and  their  work  was  a  marvel 
of  skill,  protecting  the  State's  interest  at  every  possible  point.  On 
the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Pearson,  Governor  Vance,  in  Janu- 


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GEORGE  DAVIS  8i 


ary,  1878,  offered  Mr.  Davis  the  chief  justiceship  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  he  declined  because  his  first  duty  in  life  then  was 
to  make  some  provision  for  the  little  children  that  had  come  to 
him  in  his  age,  and  upon  the  bench  he  would  be  compelled  to 
abandon  such  a  hope.  Poor  in  purse,  he  lived  modestly  and 
soberly  within  his  limited  means.  But  his  home  was  a  temple 
where  the  domestic  virtues  were  enshrined  and  where  elegant 
culture  and  sweetness  and  light  made  an  atmosphere  grateful  to 
his  nature  and  in  harmony  with  the  tenderness  and  gentleness 
of  his  disposition.  Around  him  gathered  his  friends  and  kinsmen, 
and  he  entered  with  sympathy  into  their  lives  and  strengthened 
them  with  high  purposes  and  elevated  sentiments.  His  fondness 
for  literature  gave  a  charming  flavor  to  his  home  life,  and  par- 
ticularly was  he  interested  in  State  history,  and  he  was  never 
happier  than  when  making  original  investigations  into  the  histori- 
cal episodes  of  the  Cape  Fear.  He  laid  open  the  book  of  the  past 
and  incited  others  to  become  familiar  with  the  incidents  that 
redounded  to  the  honor  of  North  Carolina  in  former  times.  Doubt- 
less it  was  in  association  with  Mr.  Davis  that  Colonel  Saunders 
was  inspired  to  undertake  the  great  work  of  collecting  and  pub- 
lishing the  Colonial  Records  which  have  been  so  valuable  to  the 
State,  while  Mr.  Davis's  own  contributions  to  historical  literature 
have  been  themselves  of  abiding  interest  and  importance. 

He  continued  to  lead  the  life  of  an  eminent  private  citizen 
until  his  death  at  Wilmington  on  February  23,  1896.  Although 
the  high  official  station  he  had  occupied  during  the  period  of  the 
Confederacy  had  given  him  a  particular  prominence,  it  had  added 
nothing  to  the  full  stature  of  manhood  which  distinguished  him 
among  men.  His  virtues,  his  culture,  his  excellence  made  him 
illustrious,  and  the  people  regarded  him  as  their  most  eminent 
citizen,  and  revered  him  for  his  character,  and  when  he  departed 
from  their  midst  he  was  mourned  as  no  other  man  of  his  com- 
munity had  ever  been. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


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JUNIUS   DAVIS 

,  NE  of  the  prominent  lawyers  of  the  Cape  Fear 
section,  justly  esteemed  for  his  high  character 
and  attainments  no  less  than  for  his  professional 
learning,  is  Junius  Davis,  a  son  of  George 
Davis,  who  was  born  in  Wilmington  on  the 
17th  day  of  June,  1845.  His  father  was  re- 
siding at  that  time  in  the  old  Davis  Mansion  on  Second  Street, 
that  had  been  built  prior  to  the  Revolution,  the  bricks  for  it  having 
been  brought  from  England  in  colonial  days. 

Mr.  Davis  is  of  illustrious  descent,  numbering  among  his 
ancestors  Sir  John  Yeamans,  Governor  James  Moore,  Alexander 
Lillington,  Colonel  Sam  Swann,  Maurice  Moore,  Richard  Eagles 
and  other  gentlemen  of  the  first  consequence  in  the  colonial  period 
of  Carolina  history.  His  father,  Mr.  George  Davis,  was  the  most 
eminent  citizen  of  his  community  during  his  generation,  and  served 
with  high  honor  in  the  Peace  Conference  in  February,  1861, 
as  a  senator  in  the  Confederate  Congress  and  as  attorney- 
general  in  President  Davis's  Cabinet.  He  was  particularly  dis- 
tinguished as  a  learned  scholar,  an  able  lawyer,  for  his  decided 
convictions,  severe  integrity  and  high  sense  of  right  and  honor, 
while  as  an  orator  he  probably  had  no  equal  in  the  United  States. 
The  mother  of  Junius  Davis,  the  first  wife  of  his  father,  was 
Miss  Mary  Adelaide  Polk,  a  daughter  of  General  Thomas  G. 
Polk  of  Mecklenburg  County,  and  a  granddaughter  of  Colonel 


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(•  ^• 


•*  iJ.SJ-i* 


•■^J--, 


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i'JMlS    D.WIS 


as    a 

^'  Mr  r 


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-•  "•..!..  -11  'I.-  r  •."ri'.uil  I..:    M«  bi  :'"  ••'- • 

i'  ."  LT.    i>    I'-.Ti'iis    I)av>,    a    '-<  II    .'f    ♦ 

i '.''-.    -.v.    >   \\;is    ^'(rn    in    \'.  ili..'i  .  ^  <  »    • 

:'h   (i:iy  of    ;i:.u\    iS;5.      I!  ^    l;//  .r    .- 

•  •        •  "•    :'i  »'..'•  «'I  1   l>;i\i.>.    M:m-i  .n  (-r,   r'-c*  i    i    ^ 
•■      '.•'■'-    -r  t'-k  thr  ]\i"^-.^!'ti"r..  ll"- I  :!«  Ks  *•  r  it 

•    t!    n:   I  •  ij,»;'l  in  r«  •!'  tmI  <..iv  >. 

^  "  J-  '  ':  ^'r'lI'...il^,  <1.>.«'t:i.  v  J:  ii; -^  M<»  T'-,    \!    • 

•  »  •  '  .n«-i  >'iTi^  Swain.   M'l'in^f  M  -.-rf.  V:  '..ii-i   ! 
^'  ^''^  IK  •!  "I  tl'  •  i>M  0'»t>^-..iu. !>.-(.  jp  'jjo  ^..|  ..  ;  .; 

!  ,1  1  .-:   :;•.     1  os  f.iv'iti,  Mr.  (j«'«'rLf?  I'-^nI-.  v.  i>  •' 
■  !*'/«  no    '^  »»  I .  .n.i'  'ir,' \  '!'"'!'':;:.:<  l^'"'-:i(t;i' '   "..;•• 

h    1     :     r    ni    »'■»»    1' •  i.'r    <'ny{'Vv   v    in    I\li'Ji!; 
nr.:'>r    in    t!;i     ('«n*\  i'-rat      <     r^'"«'^=;    a"..!    a>    •• 
ni    I'ft    :I'-.i    !>'>\!^'>   r.:')i:i.t.      ll*-   wa^   |.aT*\';' 
••>\  as  a  Iv.iT.«'l  -^  li  •]..!.  an  aM*^  iawMr.   f-  r   )'.> 
'Ms,   V.  \(ir     '  \-:j\\^    I'.U'l   'i'>:I:   s,ri-t»  .  ^   ii;J'.t   .-t.  '. 

an  t  ••  at-  »r  I  "  it-  .'..tl/  \   1;..  !  n  »  '*  '•:al    n  tli»'  I  '••'• 
;i..!'"T  <.f    t  .'  ::.•  1^-     -^      !<    T'T^t   v\ '  f     ..;'  I/-   f  • 

.    .     \'-'   i  '''    1'"'*...   a    i!.j-^:M.r     •!    '  i;  n- r;  '    T- 


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jL'N  US    D.WIS 


i    I'  .'••/,    i>    J:;!i^i!S    I)av:>,    a    '••  ii    .'t'    « 

>'  :••.>;■  .'it  tl.  .:   •;];'<•  m  t}.  .  , .;  j   p.ivi.^   Ma:L-i"i;  r  •!   .-.  r.  r-  i   ^  • 
t'  .tt  .!,.('  !• '  '•;.;'    '  -  .  T  t'-k  till-  ]\«-^  <  •1"li"i..  ill"  1  :  iv  ».<;  *-  i  -t 


I...  li'I   111   c<  •!    v\u   na^ 


1/  •  :.  .T     ■■  i  ♦    fr-  Hi 

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.  :;     ^  :<  r-  Mr  J<  '  'i  ^^"^Il.^Tl'.,  <  1- .\.Tn'  r  J;  m/-   M  »  r-',    \! 
I    ".:     •    •'.  i'"'  •nri  Sa'P  SAniin.  ManriM-  M    '-r'.  T.  '.ar-:   ! 
ai  «I      '  •  I   ^'  ^t'  M.  •!  "1  il."  f.TNi  c  n>c    lUT.s  e  :ii  'Ji  :•"!''•  I'i 
of  C   .p  !.i  a  11. ^:'*:;.'.     J.I.s  f..:*j!T.  Mr.  (j^-'T'^^e  I  •''.\i-.  v.  i>  * 
fi  .•■*.'•!'.(  ••i*'/t  n  <  .1  '*  >  f.  jna-'Mr. i^v  <!"i  ir'-^  !  i<  i;*  'u-ra'  .  n,  ;.* 
\\'!'i    ir.L  h    )     ::.T    -n    i' t*    1'    h-**    (\>y{'V\   \-    in    Tel  r-.j..*  . 
n>    a    sr'ir.t'F    in    'Ik.    < '<  n '< 'I'-ra:  •    <"   I'^^'c-^    rn..!    a-i     •' 
^^  li'.  r.-l   in   ]'r("  :•".':.:   l)avi^'>  f'a'ii'nt.      11'-   \va^  |»a.r:-.v.' 
*'•  .v'-!^  .1  a<  a  l;aT.«<l  ^-li  'i..T.  an  aM*    lawir.   f   r  1;  - 

vn';;  «'   t-   m  fat  ^r  ^   *  i-r  .••.1.'.   ;;..  I  r  >  '•  '  'ai  -r  tl  '•  I 

'!  '  ••  »Ti.  >;'-.'r  <"i    i..'  i*:.^   1^       •-      \    :"'r>»    u '  f'    ••;'  li"*»    I    * 
M     .    ^  .    ,      \  '. '.  i  ''»    r..';..    a    r!:..:."t.r     .f    'kti.  r;'    '1   • 


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THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  UBRARY 

ASTf)R,  LENOX  AND 
TlLtjLN  FOVNOATIONB 


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JUNIUS  DAVIS  83 


William  Polk  of  Raleigh,  a  lady  of  rare  loveliness  of  character 
and  gentleness,  who  combined  fine  culture  with  a  thorough  dis- 
charge of  her  duties  in  life,  and  who  exerted  a  strong  influence  on 
the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  her  household. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  rather  delicate  in  youth,  and 
his  tastes  led  to  books  and  reading  and  the  pleasures  of  the  house, 
but  he  also  enjoyed  the  sports  of  the  field  with  g^n  and  dog,  as 
well  as  the  pastimes  of  the  water,  and  found  recreation  in  the 
enjoyments  afforded  by  the  attractive  sounds  in  the  vicinity  of 
Wilmington. 

At  first  he  attended  the  excellent  schools  taught  by  Mr.  Levin 
Meginncy  and  Mr.  George  W.  Jewett,  but  on  reaching  his  twelfth 
year  he  became  a  pupil  at  the  celebrated  Bingham  School  at  the 
Oaks,  near  Mebanville,  in  Orange  County,  where  he  remained 
four  years,  thus  passing  that  period  of  his  life  largely  in  the 
country,  while  his  vacations  were  spent  in  the  charming  circle  of 
which  his  home  at  Wilmington  was  the  center. 

After  the  war  began  his  father  moved  his  wife  and  children 
to  Charlotte,  and  Junius  Davis  there  studied  for  a  few  months 
under  the  Rev.  Mr.  Griffith.  In  1863,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Moore's  Battery,  which  was  Company  E 
of  the  Tenth  North  Carolina  Regiment.  Part  of  the  battery  was 
with  General  Hoke  at  the  capture  of  Plymouth,  and  being  after- 
ward joined  by  the  entire  command,  marched  to  Washington, 
North  Carolina,  and  from  there  to  New-Bern  to  take  part  in  the 
attack  upon  that  place.  His  battery  was  hurriedly  withdrawn 
from  New-Bern  and  accompanied  Hoke's  Division  to  Virginia, 
and  was  at  the  battle  of  Drury's  Bluff.  About  this  time  his 
battery  was  attached  to  a  battalion  commanded  by  Major  Moseley, 
and  shortly  afterward  he  was  promoted  to  corporal.  He  served 
with  his  battery  in  the  movements  that  **bottled  up**  Butler  at 
Bermuda  Hundreds,  and  was  engaged  in  the  subsequent  battles 
around  Richmond  until  the  battery  moved  into  the  trenches  at 
Petersburg,  where  it  occupied  the  Salient  on  the  Norfolk  Railroad, 
being  supported  by  the  brigade  of  General  Gracie.  He  was  daily 
and  nightly  under  heavy  fire  from  artillery  and  mortars,  and  par- 


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84  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ticipated  in  the  battle  of  the  Crater  on  the  30th  of  July,  1864,  and 
also  in  the  assault  on  Fort  Harrison,  and  he  continued  to  endure 
the  hard  experience  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  Lee's  veterans  until 
the  evacuation  of  Petersburg.  Through  all  these  dangers  and 
perils  Corporal  Davis  passed  with  the  great  good  fortune  of 
escaping  without  any  serious  wound,  although  he  was  wounded 
in  the  neck  on  the  last  day  in  the  trenches. 

In  the  retreat  to  Appomattox  the  battery  was  at  first  a  part 
of  the  rear  guard,  and  underwent  great  privation,  and  was  en- 
gaged almost  constantly,  and  particularly  was  roughly  handled 
at  Deatonsville  and  Sailor's  Creek ;  but  on  the  evening  of  the  7th 
it  was  moved  forward,  and  became  a  part  of  the  van,  there  being 
at  that  time  no  enemy  in  the  immediate  front.  On  the  afternoon 
of  the  8th  of  April  the  battalion,  then  under  the  command  of 
Major  Blount  of  Georgia,  Moseley  having  been  killed  at  Peters- 
burg, together  with  other  batteries,  numbering  in  all  some  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  pieces,  passed  beyond  the  village  of  Appomattox 
about  a  mile  and  went  into  park  in  an  old  field  between  the  main 
road  leading  to  Lynchburg  and  the  railroad.  This  being  the 
advance,  the  infantry  had  not  come  up,  and  there  was  no  support 
to  the  artillery  except  some  seventy-five  artillerymen,  who  had  lost 
their  pieces  and  had  armed  themselves  with  muskets  and  rifles  they 
had  picked  up  on  the  route.  Shortly  after  they  had  camped,  a 
squadron  of  cavalry  dashed  through  the  camp  from  the  front 
shouting,  "Sheridan's  cavalry  is  upon  us.  You  had  better  get  out." 
The  seventy-five  extra  men  immediately  deployed  in  the  front  as 
skirmishers,  while  the  artillery  shelled  the  woods  so  effectively  as 
to  check  the  Federal  advance  and  drive  back  the  assailing  force. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  those  advanced  batteries  were  directed  to 
withdraw,  and  they  returned  to  Appomattox  Court  House,  but 
still  later  they  again  resumed  the  forward  movement,  and  led  the 
march  toward  Lynchburg,  and  while  on  this  route,  having  gained 
the  point  where  they  had  earlier  been  attacked,  about  a  mile  from 
Appomattox,  the  enemy  was  again  encountered.  The  artillery 
was  at  that  time  moving  on  the  right  side  of  the  road,  while  on  the 
left  was  a  long  wagon  train.     It  was  just  after  dark,  when 


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JUNIUS  DAVIS  8s 


suddenly  the  stirring  notes  of  a  bugle  blast  were  heard,  and  not 
a  hundred  yards  away  came  dashing  on  them  a  heavy  force  of 
Sheridan's  cavalry,  pouring  into  the  artillery  a  hot.  fire  from  car- 
bines and  pistols.  The  charge  was  quick  and  entirely  unexpected, 
but  immediately  the  artillery  imlimbered  and  got  into  position 
with  double-shotted  canister  to  repulse  the  attack ;  but  the  wagon 
train  being  between  them  and  the  enemy,  their  g^ns  could  not 
be  fired,  and  a  staff  officer  hastily  passing  from  the  rear  to  the 
front,  directed  the  men  to  take  care  of  themselves,  for  resistance 
was  now  hopeless. 

The  squad  of  men  of  which  Corporal  Davis  was  a  part  dashed 
mto  the  neighboring  woods,  and  before  going  a  himdred  yards 
their  own  g^uns  were  turned  upon  them,  but  fortimately  they 
escaped.  They  penetrated  the  woods  about  a  mile,  and  being 
uncertain  of  the  situation,  remained  there  that  night.  Early  in 
the  morning  they  met  with  an  officer  of  McGregor's  Mounted 
Battery,  who  informed  them  that  he  had  it  from  the  best  authority 
that  General  Lee  was  about  to  surrender.  The  information  could 
not  be  credited,  and  Corporal  Davis  and  the  two  men  who  were 
with  him  could  not  fully  tmderstand  how  such  a  calamity  could 
happen ;  but  on  being  again  assured  that  General  Lee  was  about 
to  surrender  the  army,  they  realized  the  terrible  situation,  and 
wiA  heavy  hearts,  overwhelmed  with  distress,  they  determined 
to  make  the  best  of  their  way  out.  Moving  cautiously  along,  they 
crossed  the  river  and  finally  reached  Lynchburg,  where  they  met 
Major  Blotmt  of  their  own  battalion,  who,  together  with  some 
men  and  two  of  their  g^ns  that  had  not  been  captured,  had  also 
reached  that  place.  Major  Blount  drew  his  men  up  and  made  them 
a  little  speech,  advising  them  to  go  home  subject  to  his  orders 
and  be  ready  to  report  to  him  if  again  called  into  service. 

Corporal  Davis  with  some  companions  pursued  their  sad  way 
along  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad  to  Liberty,  now  Bedford 
City,  having  the  purpose  to  join  Johnston's  army,  and  hurrying 
along  to  escape  capture.  When  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  Greens- 
boro, they,  however,  heard  of  Johnston's  surrender,  and  that  the 
last  Confederate  army  had  disappeared.    Corporal  Davis  therefore 


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86  NORTH  CAROLINA 

came  into  Greensboro  and  surrendered  himself  to  the  Federal 
provost-marshal  at  that  point  and  was  paroled. 

Returning  to  Charlotte,  all  business  being  at  a  standstill  and 
everything  disorganized,  it  was  some  time  before  he  could  obtain 
employment,  although  entirely  without  funds  or  any  means.  After 
a  while,  however,  he  was  engaged  to  accompany  carloads  of  cotton, 
which  was  then  hauled  on  open  flat  cars,  and  was  liable  to  be 
burned  by  sparks  from  the  engine  as  well  as  liable  to  depreda- 
tions and  thefts  by  Federal  soldiers  and  others.  Cotton  about 
that  time  was  selling  for  $i  in  gold  per  pound,  and  gold  was  worth 
more  than  50  cents  premium  on  the  dollar,  and  Mr.  Davis's  em- 
ployment was  to  accompany  the  cotton  and  watch  it  and  protect 
it  while  being  transported  from  Charlotte  to  New-Bern. 

He  was  engaged  in  this  business  for  several  months,  but  in  the 
fall  of  1865  he  returned  to  Wilmington,  being  then  twenty  years 
of  age,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  other  opening,  was  glad  to  be 
employed  as  a  clerk  in  the  dry-goods  store  of  Messrs.  Weil  & 
Rosenthal,  esteeming  it  a  kindness  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Weil  to 
give  him  this  opportunity  to  earn  his  livelihood.  Indeed,  at  that 
time  nearly  every  one  was  in  a  similar  condition.  The  soldiers 
returning  from  the  army  to  their  farms  found  occupation  in  the 
cultivation  of  their  fields,  but  the  young  men  of  the  towns  had 
no  means  of  support  except  such  earnings  as  they  could  make  by 
daily  labor,  and  one  who  obtained  constant  and  regular  employ- 
ment was  esteemed  fortunate  by  his  associates.  As  a  clerk  Mr. 
Davis  rendered  faithful  and  efficient  service  to  his  employers, 
and  passed  through  the  dark  days  of  those  uncertain  times  with 
the  resolution  to  make  the  most  of  his  circumstances. 

His  father,  who  on  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy  had  sought  to 
escape  to  British  territory,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  pass 
beyond  seas,  was  captured  by  the  Federal  authorities  at  Key  West 
and  had  been  imprisoned  at  Fort  Lafayette ;  but  eventually  he  was 
released  on  parole  and  returned  to  Wilmington  and  resumed  his 
practice  of  the  law,  and  in  1867  his  business  was  sufficiently  re- 
munerative for  the  son  to  relinquish  his  clerkship  and  to  enter 
upon  the  study  of  the  law,  as  he  proposed  to  seek  a  professional 


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JUNIUS  DAVIS  87 


career.  In  that  year  Junius  Davis  began  to  read  law  in  his  father's 
office,  and  made  such  progress  that  in  the  following  spring  he 
obtained  his  license  to  practice  in  the  county  courts,  and  he  was 
associated  as  a  partner  with  his  father,  and  the  association  con- 
tinued until  the  death  of  Mr.  George  Davis  in  1896. 

Inheriting  much  of  the  talents  of  his  father  and  many  of  his 
characteristics,  and  trained  by  him  in  the  details  of  professional 
work,  Mr.  Junius  Davis  fell  into  the  same  careful  habits,  pre- 
cision and  thoroughness  that  were  so  marked  in  the  career  of  that 
distinguished  lawyer.  He  early  mastered  the  intricacies  of  the 
law  and  became  a  fine  practitioner,  and  succeeded  to  the  confi- 
dence which  his  father  always  inspired  among  his  clients,  so  that 
he  himself  became  the  adviser  of  the  most  important  interests 
centering  at  Wilmington,  has  long  been  the  division  counsel  for 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railway  Company  and  the  attorney  of  the 
Consolidated  Railways,  Light  and  Power  Company,  and  for  other 
well-known  corporations.  Indeed,  as  a  lawyer  he  has  achieved 
eminent  success,  his  practice  being  very  lucrative,  and  he  has 
attained  a  high  position  in  his  profession,  his  opinion  having  as 
great  weight  as  that  of  any  other  lawyer  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina. 

As  a  business  man  he  is  also  much  esteemed,  and  among  other 
positions  he  holds  is  that  of  president  of  the  Wilmington  Railroad 
Bridge  Company. 

Mr.  Davis  has  not  sought  political  preferment,  but  has  always 
been  an  active  and  zealous  worker  for  the  success  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Party.  Careful,  prudent  and  far-sighted,  he  has  sought 
results  that  would  be  beneficial  to  his  community,  and  in  the 
revolution  at  Wilmington  in  1898  he  was  one  of  the  members 
of  the  committee  that  directed  events,  and  he  took  an  active  part 
in  those  proceedings  which  have  resulted  so  greatly  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  that  city  and  to  its  commercial  and  business  interests. 
Indeed,  he  was  instrumental  during  that  crisis  in  bringing  about 
the  consent  of  Governor  Russell  that  there  should  be  no  Republi- 
can opposition  to  the  election  of  the  Citizens'  candidates. 

Partaking  of  his  father's  literary  and  historical  turn  of  mind 


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88  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  disposition,  he  has  in  like  manner  been  for  years  interested 
in  the  local  history  of  the  Cape  Fear,  and  has  amassed  a  notable 
collection  of  historical  material.  His  professional  life,  however, 
has  been  so  laborious  that  he  has  not  been  led  often  into  the  fields 
of  literature,  and  his  public  addresses  have  been  few.  The  most 
important  of  his  literary  efforts  was  that  when,  on  behalf  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  he  presented  to  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State  the  portraits  of  James  Iredell  and  Alfred  Moore, 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  This  address 
is  of  unusual  excellence.  It  has  a  genuine  literary  flavor  and  the 
style  is  strong,  forceful  and  elegant.  It  abounds  in  flights  of 
eloquence,  while  the  foundation  of  it  rests  on  historical  facts 
skillfully  marshalled,  showing  research  and  familiarity  with  the 
history  of  the  State  and  fine  talents  in  presenting  them  in  a  form 
and  manner  to  entertain  and  instruct.  One  catches  the  pervading 
sentiment  of  Mr.  Davis's  own  life  in  its  closing  sentence:  "May 
the  example  of  their  useful  lives,  their  spotless  integrity  and  their 
distinguished  services  inspire  coming  generations  to  emulate  them 
and  follow  in  the  lofty  paths  they  walked  through  life." 

Mr.  Davis  is  an  honorary  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati  and  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Sons  of 
the  Revolution  and  a  member  by  baptism  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church. 

On  January  19,  1874,  Mr.  Davis  was  happily  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Orme  Walker,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  D.  and  Mary  Vance 
Walker,  a  lady  admired  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her.  Mrs. 
Davis  having  died,  some  years  later  he  married,  November  6, 
1893,  Miss  Mary  Walker  Cowan,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Robert  H. 
Cowan  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  He  has  had  eleven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  nine  survive. 

5*.  A,  Ashe. 


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JAMES   FEW 

"And  he  became  famous  among  men,  for  they  had  executed  judgment 
upon  him." — Esekiel, 

JHE  Few  family  was  of  English  origin.  Its  pro- 
genitor came  from  Market  Lavington,  Wilt- 
shire, with  William  Penn  to  Pennsylvania  in 
1682.  He  was  a  Quaker,  and  in  1714  his  wife 
bore  him  a  son,  whom  he  called  William. 
William  Few,  on  attaining  his  majority, 
removed  to  a  farm  that  he  had  purchased  in  Baltimore  County, 
Maryland.  Some  years  afterward  he  married  Mary  Wheeler,  a 
Roman  Catholic  of  Harford  County  of  the  same  province,  then 
finally  severing  his  connection  with  the  Quaker  meeting.  James, 
the  second  son  of  this  marriage,  was  born  in  Baltimore  in  1746. 
In  1757  William  Few  came  to  North  Carolina,  seeking  a  climate 
more  genial  and  a  soil  more  fertile.  He  soon  selected  and  pur- 
chased from  James  Taylor,  a  co-religionist  and  a  recent  comer 
from  Pennsylvania,  a  tract  of  land  containing  640  acres,  beauti- 
fully located  on  both  sides  of  the  Eno  River,  six  miles  east  of  the 
present  town  of  Hillsboro.  This  land  was  one  gjeat  forest, 
as  yet  untouched  by  the  axe  of  the  settler.  He  then  hired  a  man 
to  make  a  clearing  and  build  a  house  for  him,  and  returned  home. 
In  the  fall  of  1758,  after  gathering  his  crops  and  selling  his  land 
and  goods  that  could  not  be  transported,  he  migrated  to  North 
Carolina,  conveying  his  effects  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  four  horses 


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90  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  a  cart  drawn  by  two.  With  him  came  his  wife,  four  sturdy 
sons — Benjamin,  James,  William  and  Ignatius — ^two  young  daugh- 
ters and  four  negro  slaves. 

William  Few  prospered  in  his  new  home.  In  1763  he  purchased 
200  acres  of  land  just  a  mile  from  the  county  seat,  then  Childs- 
burg,  now  Hillsboro,  and  made  his  residence  there.  In  the  same 
year  he  established  a  grist  and  saw  mill  on  the  Eno,  and  was 
licensed  to  keep  a  tavern  at  his  residence.  In  1767  he  purchased 
another  large  tract  of  land  on  Little  River. 

The  boyhood  and  youth  of  James  Few,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  passed  in  labor  upon  his  father's  farms  and  in  attendance 
upon  a  neighborhood  school  presided  over  by  an  excellent  teacher. 
He  was  considered  by  his  family  its  brightest  and  most  promising 
member.  When  it  is  remembered  that  all  his  brothers  subse- 
quently became  distinguished  in  Georgia  (William,  later,  in  New 
York  also),  he  must  have  been  endowed  with  no  ordinary  capacity. 
He  was  destined  by  his  father  for  the  bar,  and  the  removal  near 
Hillsboro  was  in  itself  an  advantage  to  him  in  this  regard.  James 
Milner,  the  Halifax  lawyer,  seems  to  have  been  a  friend  and  ad- 
viser of  the  family.  Edmund  Fanning  himself  was  kind  in  the  loan 
of  books,  certainly  to  William,  the  younger,  and  probably  to  James. 
There, too, were  the  quarterly  county  courts,of  which  his  fatherwas 
several  times  foreman  of  the  grand  jury,  and  to  which  the  people 
came  in  crowds  to  hear  the  news,  to  trade,  to  discuss  current  events 
and  for  the  interchange  of  opinion. 

For  many  years  these  hardy  sons  of  the  field  and  the  forest  had 
been  keenly  sensitive  to  any  infringement  upon  their  so-called 
natural  rights.  To  secure  them  they  had  left  the  old  country  for 
the  new  and  braved  the  thousand  hardships  and  dangers  of  the 
wilderness.  The  individualism  of  their  character  had  indeed  be- 
come so  assertive  in  the  absence  of  contact  with  the  world,  that 
they  were  restive  even  under  the  restraints  of  the  law.  The  more 
intelligent  among  them,  too,  were  talking  more  and  more  of  politi- 
cal right,  particularly  of  taxation  without  representation.  The 
burden  of  their  complaint  was  this:  "The  public  officials  are 
robbing  us  under  forms  of  law,  and  we  cannot  get  redress.    Taxa- 


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JAMES  FEW  91 


tion  is  burdensome,  and  we  have  no  part  in  the  levying  of  those 
taxes,  for  are  not  the  very  men  who  are  robbing  us,  Thomas  Lloyd, 
Francis  Nash  and  Edmund  Fanning,  our  representatives  in  the 
Assembly  ?" 

Under  such  influences  James  Few  surrendered  his  more  selfish 
ambition  to  become  a  lawyer  that  he  might  enter  the  lists  as  a 
champion  of  the  people.  The  motives  of  men  are  too  complex 
for  me  to  assert  that  in  this  he  was  influenced  solely  by  the 
generous  enthusiasm  of  youth.  He  may  have  been  foully  wronged 
by  Edmund  Fanning.  Hatred  of  him  may  have  taken  him  into 
the  ranks  of  his  foes.  The  historian,  however,  when  he  comes 
to  weigh  the  evidence  here,  will  scarcely  credit  the  statement 
of  an  old  Regulator  who  lived  a  hundred  miles  from  James  Few, 
though  sustained  by  the  exuberant  eloquence  of  Dr.  Hawks, 
against  known  facts  which  inferentially  but  positively  negative 
the  scandal.  However  this  may  be,  James  Few  entered  into  the 
contest  with  the  inflamed  zeal  and  energy  of  a  crusader.  He 
had  the  divine  commission  to  rid  the  world  of  oppressors,  and  he 
must  obey  it. 

In  the  midst  of  this  turmoil  of  spirit  he  married,  whom  I  cannot 
ascertain,  and  his  wife,  on  February  9,  1771,  gave  birth  to  twins, 
a  son  William  (mark  the  name)  and  a  daughter  Sally,  and  their 
descendants  exist  to-day — some  prominent.  He  seems  to  have 
resided  during  this  period  not  at  his  father's  home  (now  the  Kirk- 
land  place),  but  on  Little  River  farm. 

The  culmination  of  his  career  was  reached  in  the  Hillsboro 
riot  of  September,  1770.  He  took  an  active  part  in  all  the  out- 
rages of  that  day — in  the  flogging  of  lawyers  and  sheriffs  and 
clerks,  in  the  cutting  down  of  Fanning's  house  and  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  household  goods,  and  in  the  chasing  away  from  town  of 
obnoxious  ofllicials  and  individuals.  Not,  however,  in  the  mock 
court — ^he  was  too  earnest  for  that.  For  these  illegal  acts  he  was 
among  those  indicted  at  New-Bern  under  the  Johnston  Act. 

As  a  captain  of  a  band  of  Regulators  he  fought  bravely  at 
Alamance.  He  was,  however,  overpowered  and  made  prisoner. 
The  next  day,  May  17,  1771,  after  those  slain  in  battle  had  been 


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92  NORTH  CAROLINA 

buried,  he  was,  in  the  camp  of  his  foes,  hung  by  the  neck  until 
he  was  dead — ^an  execution  that  was  wholly  arbitrary,  not  based 
upon  any  moral,  legal,  political  or  military  necessity.  In  short, 
it  was  one  of  those  murders  that  is  always  remembered  by  the 
world  with  pity  for  the  victim  and  horror  for  the  executioners. 
Yet  it  was  withal  a  heroic  death.  A  messenger  from  the  camp 
thus  tells  the  Moravians  of  it  a  few  days  after :  ''A  certain  young 
man,  a  fine  young  fellow,  had  been  captured,  and  when  given 
the  alternative  of  taking  the  oath  or  being  hanged,  he  chose  the 
latter.  The  governor  wished  to  spare  his  life,  and  twice  urged 
him  to  submit.  But  the  young  man  refused.  Again  when  the 
rope  was  placed  about  his  neck  he  was  urged ;  again  he  refused, 
and  as  he  was  swung  into  eternity  Governor  Tryon  turned  aside 
with  tears  in  his  eyes."  Notwithstanding  the  terrible  invective  of 
Governor  Tryon  by  Atticus  for  this  imnecessary  execution,  it 
may  be  that  had  Few  submitted  himself  by  taking  the  oath  to 
observe  the  law,  his  life  would  not  have  been  sacrificed. 

James  Few  lived  the  life  of  an  enthusiast  and  died  the  death 
of  a  martyr. 

Benjamin  and  Ignatius  Few  removed  to  Richmond  County, 
Georgia,  in  1770.  Their  father,  with  the  rest  of  his  family,  except 
William,  joined  them  there  in  the  fall  of  1771.  William  also  went 
to  Georgia  in  the  fall  of  1775. 

A  few  years  after  his  death  the  widow  of  James  Few  married 
again,  and  Colonel  Benjamin  Few  came  to  North  Carolina,  secured 
the  two  children,  and  returned  with  them  to  his  home  in  Georgia. 
In  his  family  they  grew  to  maturity,  and  from  his  house  Sally 
was  married. 

Authorities:  I  am  indebted  to  a  gentleman  who  married  a 
descendant  of  Sally  Few  for  much  information,  and  to  the 
8th  Colonial  Records,  Haywood's  "Tryon,"  page  133  et  seq.; 
Cleweirs  "Wachovia,"  page  109;  Magazine  of  American  His^ 
tory,  November,  1881,  and  the  public  records  of  Orange  County. 
The  examination  of  the  last  was  complicated  by  the  fact  that  there 
were  three  James  Fews  in  the  county,  all  contemporaries. 

Frank  Nash. 


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BURGESS   SIDNEY   GAITHER 


JURGESS  SIDNEY  GAITHER,  a  distinguished 
lawyer  and  public  man,  was  born  in  Iredell 
County  on  the  i6th  day  of  March,  1807. 

The  Gaithers  were  early  settlers  of  this 
country.  In  1621  there  was  a  John  Gater  at 
Jamestpwn,  Virginia,  to  whom  inducements 
were  offered  to  join  the  Calvert  colonists  in  settling  Maryland,  but 
whether  he  joined  them  or  not  the  records  do  not  disclose.  How- 
ever, the  records  of  Anne  Arundel  County,  Maryland,  show  a 
warrant  for  land  issued  in  1662  by  Lord  Baltimore  to  John 
Gaither,  probably  his  son.  He  married  Ruth  Morley,  and  died 
in  1703,  leaving  eight  children,  one  of  whom,  Benjamin  Gaither, 
bom  1 68 1,  married,  in  1709,  Sarah  Burgess,  by  whom  he  had 
thirteen  children. 

The  fourth  son  of  this  marriage,  Edward  Gaither,  bom  1714, 
married  Eleanor  Whittle,  and  died  in  1787,  leaving  five  children, 
of  whom  Burgess  Gaither  was  the  second  son.  Burgess  Gaither, 
bom  in  1757,  married  Milly  Martin  of  Virginia,  and  moved  to 
North  Carolina,  locating  in  that  part  of  Rowan  which  subse- 
quently became  Iredell  County ;  and  he  represented  Iredell  County 
in  the  House  of  Commons  almost  continuously  from  1792  to  1801, 
while  Basil  Gaither  represented  the  mother  county,  Rowan,  in  one 
House  or  the  other  continuously  from  1790  to  1802,  their  terms 
of  service  being  almost  coincident.    That  the  Gaithers  were  influ- 


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94  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ential  members  of  their  community  and  were  highly  esteemed  is 
plainly  evident  from  their  long  and  continuous  service  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  in  the  General  Assembly. 

Burgess  Gaither  died  in  1819,  leaving  ten  children,  the  eighth 
son  of  whom  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Burgess  Sidney  Gaither  was  educated  at  Hull's  High  School 
at  Bethany  Church,  Iredell  County,  and  at  the  University  of 
Georgia,  along  with  E.  J.  Erwin  and  his  brother  Alphonzo,  and  he 
was  a  college  mate  with  Alexander  Stephens  and  Robert  Toombs. 
On  reaching  manhood  he  studied  law  with  his  elder  brother, 
Alfred  M.  Gaither,  then  a  leading  lawyer  at  Morganton,  and  also 
under  Judge  D.  F.  Caldwell,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1829. 
On  the  13th  of  July,  1830,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Sharpe 
Erwin,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  William  W.  Erwin  of  Burke 
County,  and  being  thus  connected  with  this  influential  family,  he 
continued  to  make  his  home  at  Morganton,  where  he  soon  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  confidence  of  the  community.  He  was  ap- 
pointed by  Judge  Willie  P.  Mangum  clerk  of  Burke  Superior 
Court,  and  held  that  office  under  that  appointment  until  1832, 
when  the  law  providing  for  the  election  of  clerks  by  the  popular 
vote  was  passed,  and  he  was  elected  to  that  position  by  a  large 
majority.  When  the  constitutional  convention  was  about  to  meet 
in  1835,  he  was  elected  along  with  Hon.  S.  P.  Carson  as  delegate 
to  represent  the  county  of  Burke  in  that  body.  Although  then  but 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  the  convention  contained  among 
its  members  so  many  distinguished  and  experienced  statesmen, 
Mr.  Gaither  did  not  take  an  inconspicuous  part  in  its  proceeding^. 
He  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  and  he  expressed  his  views 
moderately,  considerately,  but  fully.  On  the  great  question  of 
religious  tests  for  office  he  said  that  "he  would  himself  be  in  favor 
of  the  most  liberal  amendment  to  that  article  of  the  constitution, 
for  he  considered  it  a  blot  on  that  instrument;  but,  as  he  was 
convinced,  it  was  the  desire  of  a  considerable  portion  of  his  con- 
stituents to  retain  the  article,  and  that  if  any  great  alteration  were 
made  in  it,  they  would  not  accept  of  the  amended  constitution. 
Rather  than  run  the  risk  of  the  loss  of  that,  he  would  accept  a 


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BURGESS  SIDNEY  GAITHER  95 

proposed  amendment  as  reported  by  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 
He  was  sorry  that  so  strong  a  prejudice  should  prevail  in  his 
section  of  the  country  against  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  but 
he  had  no  doubt  when  the  people  came  to  read  the  able  exposition 
of  the  doctrines  of  that  religion  which  had  been  given  to  this 
convention  by  the  gentleman  from  Craven  (Mr.  Gaston),  these 
prejudices  would  entirely  vanish  and  the  amended  constitution 
would  be  well  received." 

Mr.  Gaither  was  the  chairman  of  the  committee  to  whom  was 
referred  the  districting  of  the  State  for  electing  members  of  the 
Senate  and  of  the  House,  and  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
proceedings  of  that  body.  He  voted  for  the  proposed  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution,  and  Burke  County  cast  but  one  vote 
against  their  adoption,  and  gave  1359  in  favor  of  their  ratification. 
During  General  Jackson's  first  administration  there  was  a  di- 
vergence among  the  public  men  of  that  period,  and  in  December, 
1 83 1,  the  followers  of  Henry  Clay,  calling  themselves  National 
Republicans,  held  a  convention  in  Baltimore  and  nominated  him 
for  the  Presidency,  and  in  December,  1839,  a  similar  convention 
met  at  Harrisburg,  called  the  Democratic  Whig  convention,  at 
which  Mr.  Clay  was  defeated  for  the  nomination,  the  nominees 
being  General  Harrison  and  Governor  Tyler.  General  Harrison 
was  elected,  but  died  within  a  month  after  his  inauguration,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Governor  Tyler.  Colonel  Gaither  was  a  delegate 
to  that  convention,  and  was  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic  supporter 
of  Henry  Qay,  and  was  greatly  disappointed  at  the  action  of  the 
convention,  but  entered  with  zeal  into  the  Log  Cabin  campaign, 
when  the  State  of  North  Carolina  for  the  first  time  broke  away 
from  the  Jackson  Democracy  and  gave  its  votes  to  the  Whig 
candidate,  continuing  after  that  as  a  Whig  State  until  1852.  In 
1 84 1  President  Tyler,  in  recognition  of  Colonel  Gaither 's  fine 
services,  appointed  him  superintendent  of  the  mint  at  Charlotte, 
which  was  established  in  1836  with  John  H.  Wheeler  as  the 
superintendent,  who  was  succeeded  by  Colonel  Gaither. 

President  Tyler,  however,  soon  broke  with  the  Whig  Party  on 
the  question  of  establishing  a  national  bank,  and  later,  Calhoun 


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96  NORTH  CAROLINA 

being  the  Secretary  of  State,  espoused  the  cause  of  Texas,  and 
initiated  those  movements  that  led  to  the  Mexican  War.  The 
President's  course  in  this  matter  was  so  strongly  disapproved  of 
by  the  Whigs  that  they  refused  to  give  him  countenance,  and 
many  of  those  who  held  office  under  his  administration  resigned, 
among  them  Colonel  Gaither. 

In  1840  Colonel  Gaither  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from 
his  district,  and  again  in  1844.  At  this  last  session  the  Senate 
was  equally  divided  between  the  Whigs  and  the  Democrats,  and 
after  a  week  of  fruitless  balloting  for  a  presiding  officer,  the  body 
organized  by  the  election  of  Colonel  Gaither  as  president  of  the 
Senate.  In  this  position  he  displayed  that  good  judgment  that 
had  marked  his  course  in  life,  and  his  rulings  gave  entire  satis- 
faction to  all  the  members  of  that  body.  Indeed,  so  conciliatory 
was  his  course  and  so  highly  esteemed  was  he  among  the  members 
not  only  of  the  Senate,  but  of  the  House,  that  at  the  same  session 
he  was  elected  solicitor  for  the  Seventh  Judicial  District,  a  position 
he  filled  so  ably  that  in  1848  he  was  re-elected  for  a  second  term  of 
four  years.  He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  and 
successful  prosecuting  officers  that  the  State  has  ever  produced, 
taking  rank  with  the  celebrated  Joseph  Wilson  of  the  preceding 
generation,  who  was  known  as  the  "Great  Solicitor."  While 
efficiently  discharging  the  duties  of  this  office.  Colonel  Gaither 
also  commanded  a  leading  civil  practice  that  was  very  lucrative, 
and  his  business  yielded  him  a  large  income.  In  1843  Thomas  L. 
Clingman,  who  had  entered  public  life  as  a  Whig,  was  elected  a 
representative  in  Congress  from  the  Buncombe  district;  and  he 
was  still  in  Congress  in  185 1,  when  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question  in  connection  with  the  territory  acquired  in  the  Mexican 
War  led  to  his  espousal  of  the  ultra  Southern  side  of  that  question, 
which  many  Whigs  did  not  approve  of.  Still  proclaiming  himself 
a  Whig,  General  Clingman  was  again  a  candidate  in  1851,  when 
the  Whigs  in  opposition  selected  Colonel  Gaither  as  his  opponent ; 
but  though  Colonel  Gaither  exhibited  great  strength  and  readiness 
as  a  debater,  proving  himself  quite  the  equal  of  General  Qingman 
in  joint  debate,  yet  the  Democrats  held  the  balance  of  power,  and. 


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BURGESS  SIDNEY  GAITHER  97 

throwing  their  vote  solidly  for  General  Qingman,  elected  him. 
Two  years  later  Colonel  Gaither  again  was  the  antagonist  of 
General  Qingman,  but  with  the  same  result,  General  Clingman 
being  again  elected,  and  more  firmly  establishing  his  hold  upon 
the  district,  until  at  length,  in  1856,  he  finally  separated  himself 
entirely  from  the  Whig  Party  and  avowed  himself  a  Democrat. 
Colonel  Gaither  continued  to  be  one  of  the  most  influential  of  the 
Whig  leaders  in  the  Western  part  of  the  State,  and  in  i860 
strongly  advocated  the  election  of  Bell  and  Everett,  and  earnestly 
supported  the  cause  of  the  Constitutional  Union  Party. 

But  as  earnest  and  determined  as  he  had  been  in  his  zealous 
adherence  to  Union  principles,  upon  the  proclamation  of  President 
Lincoln  in  April,  1861,  he  became  equally  pronounced  as  a  South- 
em  man.  He  was  elected  to  the  Senate  from  his  district  in  1861, 
and  at  the  first  election  for  members  of  the  Confederate  States 
Congress  he  was  elected  to  that  body,  being  commissioned  in 
February,  1862,  and  two  years  later  was  re-elected  to  succeed 
himself.  He  was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  administration  of  Con- 
federate affairs,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  war  no  member  of 
Congress  from  North  Carolina  was  relied  upon  more  confidently 
as  an  ardent,  able  and  fearless  defender  of  the  cause  of  the  South. 
Indeed,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  patriotic  bearing  during  all 
that  period  of  conflict,  with  its  attendant  embarrassment,  and  not- 
withstanding the  marked  divergence  of  views  among  some  of  the 
old  Whig  leaders  with  whom  he  had  been  associated  in  former 
years,  he  sustained  unwaveringly  the  war  measures  of  the  Con- 
federate administration,  and  gave  the  whole  weight  of  his  per- 
sonal influence  for  the  achievement  of  Southern  success. 

When  hostilities  had  ceased,  the  condition  of  affairs  was  most 
deplorable,  but  Colonel  Gaither  displayed  unsurpassed  fortitude, 
and  with  a  resolute  spirit  resumed  his  practice  at  Morganton,  and 
continued  to  lead  an  active,  busy  life,  prudently  advising  the  people 
and  vigorously  co-operating  in  behalf  of  good  government. 

In  the  convention  of  1835,  of  which  he  lived  to  be  the  last 
surviving  member,  he  had  voted  to  deprive  free  negroes  of  the 
right  of  suffrage,  a  proposition  on  which  the  convention  was  nearly 


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98  NORTH  CAROLINA 

equally  divided,  it  being  carried  by  only  five  majority  in  a  vote 
aggregating  127;  and  now  he  saw  the  constitution  of  the  State 
rudely  displaced  by  the  ballots  of  nearly  100,000  ignorant  negroes, 
who  were  installed  in  power  over  their  former  masters  by  the 
ruthless  exercise  of  arbitrary  power  by  the  despotic  Federal 
Congress.  He  saw  judges  on  the  bench  obeying  the  directions' 
of  major-generals  and  ignoring  the  laws  passed  by  the  State  legis- 
lature, and  he  witnessed  the  whole  system  of  law  and  of  practice 
with  which  he  had  been  familiar  since  boyhood  supplanted  by  a 
new  code  and  a  new  system  of  practice  both  novel  and  difficult 
to  comprehend.  But  he  turned  with  resolution  from  the  past 
with  its  sorrows  and  misfortunes  and  wrecked  hopes  and  applied 
himself  with  a  brave  heart  to  the  duties  of  this  strange  time. 

Notwithstanding  his  advanced  age,  he  remained  the  leader  of 
the  bar  in  his  district  until  within  a  few  years  of  his  death,  and 
he  was  counsel  and  took  a  leading  part  in  most  of  the  important 
cases  in  the  courts  where  he  practiced.  His  admirable  wife  died 
in  1859,  leaving  three  children,  only  one  of  whom  survives,  a 
daughter,  who  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  R.  T.  Pearson;  and  in  1871 
Colonel  Gaither  married  Miss  Sarah  F.  Corpening,  by  whom  he 
had  one  child,  a  son.  Burgess  Sidney  Gaither,  who,  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  father,  has  attained  an  enviable  position  among 
the  lawyers  of  his  section  of  the  State. 

On  the  23d  of  February,  1892,  having  nearly  completed  his 
eighty-fifth  year,  Colonel  Gaither  passed  away  after  an  eventful 
career,  reaping  the  rich  rewards  of  a  life  of  virtue,  distinguished 
for  his  abilities  and  venerated  for  his  noble  characteristics. 

5".  A,  Ashe. 


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WILLIAM   GASTON 


[ISTINGUISHED  alike  as  a  great  statesman  and 
jurist,  William  Gaston  was  an  ornament  of  the 
State  in  his  generation,  while  his  talents  and 
genius  were  recognized  by  cultivated  people  in 
other  parts  of  the  country. 
He  was  bom  in  the  town  of  New-Bern,  North 
Carolina,  September  19,  1778.  He  was  of  French  Huguenot  de- 
scent, but  his  ancestors  having  refugeed  from  France  to  Ireland, 
his  father.  Dr.  Alexander  Gaston,  was  born  in  the  northern  part 
of  that  island.  He  was  a  man  of  ability,  and  having  graduated 
from  the  Edinburgh  Medical  College,  became  a  surgeon  in  the 
English  army.  He  resigned,  however,  while  still  a  young  man 
and  moved  to  New-Bern  before  the  Revolution.  His  wife  was  an 
English  lady,  Margaret  Sharpe  by  name.  He  was  an  ardent 
Whig  during  the  struggle  with  Great  Britain,  and  upon  the 
capture  of  New-Bern  by  the  Tories,  in  1781,  he  was  shot  down 
by  them  while  he  was  attempting  to  escape  in  a  boat  on  the  river. 
As  a  captain  of  volunteers,  as  well  as  a  surgeon  in  the  Whig  forces, 
he  was  obnoxious  to  the  Tories.  It  is  said  that  he  was  shot  over 
the  heads  of  his  young  wife  and  two  little  children,  of  whom 
William  was  then  three  years  of  age.  The  other,  a  girl,  after- 
ward became  the  wife  of  Chief  Justice  John  Louis  Taylor.  When 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  during  the  war  with  Eng- 
land, it  was  intimated  by  an  opponent  that  Judge  Gaston  was 


3921 49 A 

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loo  NORTH  CAROLINA 

wanting  in  patriotism,  he  spumed  the  insinuation,  and  alluding 
to  the  tragic  death  of  his  father  in  his  presence,  he  said  with  im- 
pressive effect,  that  he  "was  baptized  an  American  in  the  blood  of 
a  murdered  father." 

The  mother  of  William  Gaston,  like  the  mothers  of  most  great 
men,  was  a  woman  of  superior  mind  and  considerable  energy. 
She  was  a  devout  Roman  Catholic  in  faith,  and  her  piety  made 
such  an  impression  on  her  son  that  he  ever  adhered  to  her  church, 
though  the  prejudice  against  that  church  in  this  State  was  great 
throughout  his  life.  Two  brothers  who  came  with  her  to  this 
country  having  died,  after  the  death  of  her  husband  she  had  no 
relatives  in  America  except  her  two  children,  an  elder  brother  of 
William  having  died  before  his  father.  Little  was  left  by  her 
husband,  but  by  prudence  and  energy  she  managed  to  support  and 
educate  her  children.  At  the  age  of  thirteen,  William  was  sent  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  college  at  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia, 
where  such  was  his  diligence  and  success  that  he  was  pronounced 
by  one  of  the  professors  "the  best  scholar  and  most  exemplary 
youth  in  the  college."  He  was  the  first  student  to  enter  there,  and 
to-day  the  Main  Hall  is  named  in  his  honor.  Too  close  application 
caused  a  failure  of  health,  and  he  was  compelled  after  about 
eighteen  months  to  return  home.  Resuming  his  studies  at  the 
Academy  of  New-Bern,  he  made  such  progress  that  in  the  fall  of 
1794  he  was  able  to  enter  the  junior  class  at  Princeton  College, 
where  he  graduated  two  years  after  with  the  highest  honors  of  his 
class.  He  was  wont  to  say  in  after  years  that  the  proudest  moment 
of  his  life  was  when  he  announced  this  to  his  mother. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  law  under  the 
direction  of  Francis  Xavier  Martin,  then  a  practicing  lawyer  of 
ability,  the  author  of  Martin's  North  Carolina  Reports  and  of  a 
history  of  the  State,.and  subsequently  a  judge  of  the  United  States 
District  Court  of  Louisiana.  He  came  to  the  bar  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  in  1798.  The  same  year  John  Louis  Taylor,  who  had 
married  his  sister,  and  was  some  nine  years  his  senior,  was  ele- 
vated to  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  turned  over  his 
business  to  him.    This  would  have  proved  a  disadvantage  to  one 


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WILLIAM  GASTON  loi 

of  less  ability  and  industry  than  young  Gaston,  but  Judge  Taylor's 
clients  had  no  cause  to  regret  their  change  of  lawyer,  and  very 
soon  new  clients  came  to  his  successor,  so  that  he  commanded 
while  still  a  very  young  man  a  leading  practice  in  Craven  and 
the  adjoining  counties. 

The  year  after  he  became  of  age  he  was  elected  senator  of  his 
native  county.  In  1808  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Commons 
from  the  borough  of  New-Bern,  and  was  made  speaker  of  the 
body.  He  represented  New-Bern  and  again  was  the  speaker  of 
the  House  in  1809.  In  1812,  1818  and  1819  he  represented  his 
county  in  the  State  Senate ;  and  in  1824,  1827,  1828  and  1831  he 
again  represented  New-Bern  in  the  House.  In  1808  he  was 
elected  a  Presidential  elector  for  his  district,  the  electors  then 
being  chosen  by  districts.  In  1813  and  1815  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  lower  House  of  the  National  Congress,  in  which 
he  was  deemed  a  peer  of  such  men  as  Lowndes,  Randolph,  Clay, 
Calhoun  and  Webster.  Mr.  Webster,  who  was  his  junior  in  years, 
pronounced  him  the  first  man  in  the  War  Congress  of  1813,  and 
was  so  struck  with  the  logical  ability  of  one  of  Mr.  Gaston's 
speeches  that  he  insisted  upon  its  publication,  and  himself  took 
the  pen  and  assisted  in  its  reproduction.  His  speeches  on  the  Loan 
Bill  and  Previous  Question  are  rare  specimens  of  parliamentary 
logic  and  eloquence.  In  181 7  he  voluntarily  retired  from  Con- 
gress and  devoted  his  life  to  the  care  of  his  family,  the  duties 
of  his  profession  and  service  to  the  State.  He  served  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  the  constitutional  convention  of  1835  and  on  the 
Supreme  Court  Bench,  and  made  occasional  public  addresses. 

In  the  legislature  he  was  ever  a  leader  in  what  could  advance 
the  best  interests  of  the  State  and  make  for  the  happiness  of  the 
citizen.  In  1808  he  drew  the  "Act  regulating  the  descent  of  In- 
heritance." In  1818  he  was  most  influential  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Supreme  Court  nearly  as  it  now  exists  in  place  of  the  old 
Court  of  Conference;  in  1828  his  energies  and  eloquence  were 
successfully  exerted  to  prevent  the  passage  of  a  measure  in  rela- 
tion to  the  banks,  which  would  have  been  productive  of  g^eat  evil 
throughout  the  State.    At  his  last  appearance  in  the  legislature, 


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I02  NORTH  CAROLINA 

in  1 83 1,  he  made  a  splendid  effort  in  favor  of  rebuilding  the 
Capitol,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  fire  the  preceding  summer. 
His  tact  as  a  parliamentarian  was  exhibited  at  that  session.  An 
artist  of  standing  had  proposed  to  repair  Canova's  statue  of  Wash- 
ington, which  was  mutilated  by  the  fire  which  destroyed  the 
Capitol.  Mr.  Gaston,  as  chairman  of  a  committee  on  the  subject, 
made  an  admirable  report  in  its  favor.  There  was  some  oppo- 
sition to  it  on  the  score  of  economy,  and  one  old  member  arose 
and  said  he  had  "as  much  love  for  General  Washington  as  any- 
body, but  the  people  did  not  want  to  spend  money  in  repairing  his 
statue,  and  that  it  was  enough  that  he  was  in  their  hearts."  As  he 
took  his  seat,  Mr.  Gaston  arose  and  said  with  solemn  emphasis, 
"Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart,  the  mouth  speaketh."  Noth- 
ing more  was  needed,  and  the  bill  passed  without  a  call  of  ayes 
and  nays.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  remains  of  the  statue 
were  found  too  liable  to  crumble  from  the  effect  of  the  great  heat 
to  which  it  had  been  subjected,  and  it  was  found  impracticable 
to  repair  it. 

During  all  these  years  Mr.  Gaston's  practice  at  the  bar  was 
great  and  extensive.  He  was  employed  in  nearly  all  the  im- 
portant cases  in  the  highest  courts  of  the  State  and  in  the  Federal 
courts  of  the  District  of  North  Carolina.  It  is  said  that  he 
seldom  lost  a  case  on  the  circuit,  and  that  he  made  such  an  im- 
pression on  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  who  presided  in  the  Circuit 
Court  at  Raleigh,  by  his  display  of  legal  ability  and  learning, 
that  the  chief  justice,  who  was  then  growing  old  and  feeble,  said 
he  would  resign  his  office  if  Mr.  Gaston  would  be  appointed  in 
his  place.  Differing  with  most  lawyers,  he  preferred  the  first  to 
the  last  speech  before  a  jury,  believing  that  by  lodging  his  view 
of  the  case  well  in  the  minds  of  the  jurors  his  adversary  could 
not  dislodge  it.  Such  was  his  success  at  the  bar,  that  it  is  said 
that  one  day,  after  he  had  just  gained  a  case  which  the  opposing 
lawyers,  men  of  ability,  expected  to  win,  one  of  them  said  to  the 
other,  "Why  is  it  that  Gaston  beats  us  every  time?"  The  fact  was 
due  to  his  thorough  preparation,  together  with  his  superior  ability ; 
but  perhaps,  also,  he  would  refuse  to  try  a  case  which  was  quite 


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WILLIAM  GASTON  103 

desperate,  compelling  his  client  rather  to  compromise  or  submit 
to  a  judgment.  He  would  not  impair  his  influence  with  courts 
and  juries  by  trying  a  "bald"  case. 

Upon  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Henderson  in  1833,  ^^e  eyes 
of  the  people  of  the  State  turned  to  Mr.  Gaston,  without  regard 
to  party,  and  by  the  legislature  of  that  year  he  was  elected  to  a 
seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench  on  the  first  ballot,  and  by  a  hand- 
some majority.  Thomas  Ruffin,  whose  commission  was  older 
than  that  of  the  other  associate  (the  court  then  and  afterward 
until  1868  consisting  of  three  members),  as  well  as  Judge  Gaston's, 
was  made  chief  justice  by  the  court  then  existing,  and  from  that 
time  until  Gaston's  death,  nine  years  later,  he  was  the  associate 
and  friend  of  that  great  jurist.  The  other  associate  was  Joseph  J. 
Daniel,  who  had  been  elected  in  1832.  The  three — ^Ruffin,  Gaston 
and  Daniel— constituted  a  court  which  would  have  done  credit 
to  any  State  or  nation.  They  were  all  strong  and  able  men,  as 
well  as  thorough  lawyers  of  undoubted  integrity.  Their  decisions, 
which  were  with  rare  exceptions  unanimous,  commanded  the 
respect  of  the  courts  of  all  the  other  States,  and  were  sometimes 
quoted  with  approval  in  Westminster  Hall.  Gaston's  opinions, 
which  are  to  be  found  in  our  reports  from  the  fifteenth  to  the 
thirty-eighth  volume,  for  learning,  elegance  of  diction  and  clear- 
ness will  compare  favorably  with  those  of  any  other  judge  in  the 
land.  While  all  of  his  opinions  deserve  this  commendation,  refer- 
ence may  be  made  to  the  opinion  written  by  him  in  State  v.  Will 
(18  North  Carolina,  121),  in  which  it  was  decided  that  where  a 
slave,  under  circumstances  calculated  to  excite  his  fear  of  death 
from  an  assailant,  an  overseer,  in  self-defense,  killed  the  overseer, 
the  offense  was  manslaughter  and  not  murder ;  and  to  his  dissent- 
ing opinion  in  State  v.  Miller,  in  the  same  volume,  as  models  of 
elegant  and  logical  reasoning.  The  former  case  is  memorable  in 
the  history  of  the  bar  in  North  Carolina,  for  bringing  prominently 
forward  as  a  very  able  lawyer  Hon.  Bartholomew  F.  Moore,  after- 
ward for  nearly  a  generation  at  the  head  of  his  profession  in  the 
State,  whose  printed  brief  in  behalf  of  the  prisoner  in  that  case 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  readers  of  our  Law  Reports  every- 


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I04  NORTH  CAROLINA 

where.  The  opinion  written  by  Judge  Gaston  was  in  the  line  of 
that  brief.  Some  competent  judges  assign  even  higher  rank  to 
his  dissenting  opinion  in  Miller's  case.  During  the  years  of  his 
service  on  the  bench,  much  of  the  leisure  moments  he  permitted 
himself  were  occupied  by  members  of  the  bar  and  other  admirers 
from  different  parts  of  the  State,  who  sought  his  society  on 
account  of  his  social  gifts.  His  conversational  powers  were  rare, 
he  always  contributing  valuable  information  and  edifying  reminis- 
cence enlivened  by  wit  and  humor.  That  he  possessed  imagina- 
tion and  some  talent  for  poetry  is  proved  by  his  authorship  of 
North  Carolina's  patriotic  anthem,  "The  Old  North  State,"  which 
grows  more  popular  in  every  successive  year. 

Before  the  convention  of  1835,  ^^  which  so  many  of  our  great 
men  of  that  day  were  members,  the  constitution  had  a  provision 
that  no  man  should  hold  office  in  this  State  who  denied  the  truth 
of  the  Protestant  religion.  Judge  Gaston's  services  in  the  con- 
vention were  desired  by  the  people  of  his  county,  and  probably 
his  consent  to  serve  them  was  based  principally  on  his  wish  to  see 
to  the  change  of  that  provision,  which  reflected  on  his  church; 
though  he  was  interested  in  the  other  questions  which  caused  the 
convention  to  be  called.  In  that  convention  he  was  primus  inter 
pares,  though  among  his  compeers  were  the  then  governor,  David 
L.  Swain ;  his  associate  on  the  Supreme  bench,  Joseph  J.  Daniel, 
and  others  scarcely  less  able  and  distinguished.  He  spoke  with 
power  in  all  the  principal  debates ;  but  his  speech  on  the  religious 
qualification  for  office  made  the  greatest  impression.  It  has  prob- 
ably never  been  surpassed  for  eloquence  and  effect  by  any  speech 
delivered  in  a  deliberative  assembly  in  the  State.  Doubtless  it  was 
owing  to  his  personal  influence  and  that  of  this  great  speech  that 
the  provision  was  changed,  and  the  words  "Christian  religion" 
substituted  for  "Protestant  religion."  Belief  in  the  Christian 
religion  from  that  time  until  1868  was  a  qualification  for  office  in 
this  State.  In  the  constitution  of  1868  an  amendment  provided 
"belief  in  a  Supreme  Being"  only  as  a  religious  qualification. 
Believing  after  he  went  on  the  Supreme  bench  that  he  could  best 
serve  his  State  and  her  people  in  that  honorable  station,  he  refused 


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WILLIAM  GASTON  105 

a  request  of  the  leaders  of  the  Whig  Party,  then  in  the  ascendancy 
in  the  legislature,  that  he  would  permit  them  to  elect  him  to  fill 
a  vacancy  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

In  1827  a  custom  was  adopted  at  the  University  to  have  an 
"address  before  the  two  literary  societies"  delivered  at  each 
annual  commencement.  Judge  A.  D.  Murphey  delivered  the  first 
one  and  Mr.  Gaston  that  of  the  commencement  of  1832.  His 
reputation  as  an  orator  and  statesman  attracted  many  from  a 
distance  to  the  commencement,  and  Person  Hall  was  crowded  to 
the  utmost  by  an  eager  audience,  while  many  stood  about  the 
door  and  windows  to  catch  some  of  his  words  of  wisdom.  The 
subject  of  the  address  was  the  Duty  of  Young  Men,  who  were 
soon  to  become  leading  citizens,  to  themselves  and  to  the  State, 
and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  many  who  heard  the  address  and  many 
who  have  read  it,  as  it  went  through  four  or  five  editions  to  meet 
the  demand  for  it  from  time  to  time,  were  deeply  impressed.  No 
other  ever  delivered  at  the  University  has  been  so  much  admired 
or  so  often  referred  to.  It  is  often  alleged  that  the  most  success- 
ful students  at  school  or  in  college  are  not  the  successful  men 
in  after  life.  He  took  occasion  to  refute  that  error  in  this  address, 
in  the  following  words:  "True  it  is  that  it  sometimes,  though 
very  rarely,  happens,  that  those  who  have  been  idle  during  their 
academical  course  have  by  extraordinary  exertions  retrieved  their 
early  neglect,  and  in  the  end  outstripped  others  who  started  in 
the  race  far  ahead.  These  are  the  exceptions.  They  furnish 
cause  to  humble  arrogance,  check  presumption,  banish  despair 
and  encourage  reformation.  But  as  surely  as  a  virtuous  life 
usually  precedes  a  happy  death,  so  surely  it  will  be  found  that 
within  the  college  precincts  is  laid  the  groundwork  of  that  pre- 
eminence afterward  acquired  in  the  strife  of  men,  and  that  college 
distinctions  are  not  only  good  testimony  of  the  fidelity  with  which 
college  duties  have  been  performed,  but  the  best  presages  and 
pledges  of  excellence  on  a  more  extended  and  elevated  field  of 
action."  The  history  of  the  college  graduates  of  this  and  other 
States  fully  establishes  the  results  of  the  observation  and  experi- 
ence of  this  wise  man. 


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io6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Three  years  later,  in  September,  1835,  Judge  Gaston  delivered 
a  similar  address  at  Princeton  before  the  societies  of  the  College 
of  New  Jersey,  which  attracted  wide  commendation.  The  chief 
justice  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  governor  of  Ohio 
quoted  largely  from  it,  the  former  in  an  address  to  the  grand  jury 
and  the  latter  in  his  inaugural  address. 

Of  Judge  Gaston  it  may  be  truly  said  that  everything  he  did 
or  said  during  his  useful  life,  his  example  and  precepts,  tended 
to  elevate  the  standard  of  virtue  and  citizenship.  He  did  prob- 
ably more  than  any  other  man  of  his  generation  to  make  North 
Carolina  respected  and  beloved  by  her  citizens  and  honored  by 
other  citizens  of  the  Union.  His  patriotic  love  of  the  State  was 
such  that  when  it  was  suggested  that  he  should  go  to  some  wider 
field  of  action,  where  his  talents  would  ensure  him  greater  fame 
and  larger  income,  his  reply  was :  "Providence  has  placed  me  here, 
and  it  is  my  duty  as  well  as  pleasure  to  do  what  I  can  for  my 
native  State."  His  confidence  in  her  future  was  shown  by  a  letter 
to  a  member  of  his  family,  in  which  he  said :  "The  resources  of 
our  State  lie  buried  and  unknown ;  when  developed,  as  they  must 
be  ere  long,  she  will  be  raised  to  a  consequence  not  generally 
anticipated." 

He  died  as  he  had  lived,  and  it  can  be  truly  said  he  died  in 
harness.  On  the  23d  of  January,  1844,  he  occupied  his  seat  on 
the  bench  and  listened  to  the  argument  of  a  case  until  near  the 
hour  of  adjournment,  when  from  a  sudden  attack  he  became  faint, 
and  was  taken  to  his  room  (on  the  corner  of  the  lot  now  owned 
by  C.  M.  Busbee,  Esq.)  and  a  physician  summoned.  He  revived 
during  the  evening  and  entertained  friends  who  called  to  see  him 
with  amusing  anecdotes.  He  then  told  of  a  party  he  had  attended 
in  Washington,  when  he  was  in  Congress,  and  that  one  of  the  guests, 
a  public  man,  avowed  himself  a  free-thinker  in  religion.  From  that 
day,  he  said,  he  always  looked  upon  that  man  with  disgust.  *'A 
belief,"  he  said,  "in  an  all-ruling  Divinity,  who  shapes  our  ends, 
whose  eye  is  upon  us,  and  who  will  reward  us  according  to  our 
deeds,  is  necessary.  We  must  believe  and  feel  that  there  is  a 
God  All- Wise  and  Almighty."    He  rose  to  give  emphasis  to  these 


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WILLIAM  GASTON  107 

words ;  there  came  a  rush  of  blood  to  his  brain  and  he  fell  back 
and  expired.    He  died  in  the  noble  avowal  of  his  Christian  faith. 

He  was  an  active  friend  of  education  as  well  as  of  religion. 
For  forty  years  he  was  a  faithful  trustee  of  the  State  University, 
and  took  an  active  interest  in  her  welfare.  She  was  glad  to 
confer  upon  him  the  degree  of  LL.D.,  and  Princeton,  his  alma 
mater,  did  the  same. 

Judge  Gaston  was  married  three  times.  His  first  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  John  Hay,  a  lawyer  of  high  standing  at  Fayetteville. 
They  were  married  in  1803,  and  she  died  within  a  year  without 
leaving  a  child.  In  1805  he  married  Miss  McClure,  who  died  in 
1813,  leaving  several  children,  one  of  whom  was  the  first  wife  of 
Hon.  Matthias  E.  Manly,  afterward  a  judge  of  the  Superior  and 
Supreme  Courts.  In  1816  he  married  Miss  Worthington  of 
Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia. 

He  lies  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  his  native  place,  and  his 
resting  place  is  marked  by  a  massive  marble  monument  on  which 
the  only  inscription  is  "Gaston." 

Richard  H.  Battle. 


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CALVIN    GRAVES 


has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  but  few  men  in  North 
Carolina  to  be  actors  in  a  scene  at  once  so  im- 
portant and  so  dramatic  as  that  which  put  an 
end  to  the  political  career  of  Calvin  Graves; 
but  by  his  valuable  public  service,  high  patriot- 
ism and  stem  virtue  he  won  for  himself  an 
enduring  monument  in  the  temple  of  fame.  His  father,  Azariah 
Graves,  was  a  member  of  a  large  and  respectable  family  of  that 
name  that  had  contributed  strong  public  men  to  that  section  of 
North  Carolina.  John  Graves  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly 
from  1788  to  1793,  and  Azariah  Graves  himself  represented  Cas- 
well County  in  the  Senate  from  1805  to  181 1,  and  other  members 
of  the  family  were  frequently  representatives  of  the  people.  The 
mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
John  Williams,  who  in  1775  was  appointed  by  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Minute  Men  of  the  Hillsboro 
district,  and  subsequently  distinguished  himself  by  the  active  part 
he  bore  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  On  the  termination  of  hos- 
tilities. Colonel  Williams  located  in  Caswell  County  and  practiced 
his  profession,  he  being  the  first  lawyer  to  reside  in  that  county. 
Judge  John  Williams,  his  contemporary,  resided  in  Granville 
County. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  bom  at  his  father's  home  in 
Caswell  County  in  January,  1804;  and  his  father  being  a  pros- 


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CALVIN  GRAVES  109 

perous  fanner,  the  son  received  his  primary  education  under  the 
direction  of  Rev.  William  Bingham,  near  Hillsboro,  whose 
academy  at  that  day  had  a  reputation  not  inferior  to  that  of  any 
school  at  the  South.  Having  completed  his  course  under  Mr. 
Bingham,  when  nineteen  years  of  age  he  entered  the  University, 
where,  however,  he  remained  but  one  year,  when  he  began  the 
study  of  the  law.  The  elder  Judge  Settle  had  married  his  sister, 
and  he  studied  with  him  for  a  year,  and  then  entered  the  law 
school  of  Chief  Justice  Henderson  of  Granville  Coimty,  where  he 
was  associated  with  other  students  who  subsequently  were 
among  the  most  distinguished  jurists  adorning  the  bench.  Ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1827,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  having  the 
advantage  of  strong  connections,  and  himself  from  boyhood  de- 
servedly enjoying  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  teachers  and  elders, 
he  was  fortunately  exempt  from  the  delay  that  usually  attends  the 
efforts  of  young  practitioners  to  establish  themselves  in  a  lucrative 
business.  He  was  distinguished  at  the  bar  not  merely  for  his 
learning  and  ability,  for  the  cogency  of  his  argument  and  clear- 
ness of  his  statement,  but  by  his  high  tone  and  personal  integrity, 
that  speedily  won  for  him  the  personal  regard  and  confidence  of 
all  who  were  brought  within  the  sphere  of  his  action. 

When  delegates  were  to  be  elected  to  the  constitutional  con- 
vention of  1835,  the  people  of  Caswell  County  naturally  turned 
to  Mr.  Graves,  then  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers,  to  repre- 
sent them  in  that  important  body.  In  the  convention  he  voted 
against  the  change  in  the  religious  test  for  office,  but  voted  for 
biennial  sessions  and  for  the  election  of  the  governor  for  a  term 
of  two  years  by  the  people;  and  he  was  subsequently  active  in 
urging  the  adoption  of  the  amendments  recommended  by  the 
convention,  which  received  nearly  three  votes  to  one  in  opposition 
in  Caswell  County.  His  family  had  been  always  of  Democratic 
aflSliations,  and  warm  supporters  of  Jefferson  and  of  Madison ;  and 
npon  the  formation  of  the  Whig  Party  in  North  Carolina  by 
the  union  of  the  National  Republicans,  who  followed  Qay,  and 
the  States  Rights  men,  who  antagonized  Jackson  and  his  Force 
Bill  against  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Graves  remained  an  adherent 


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no  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  administration,  and  in  1840  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  from  Caswell ;  and  during  the  session  occu- 
pied a  prominent  position  as  a  discreet  and  judicious  leader  of 
his  party  in  that  body,  which  had  been  under  the  control  of  the 
Whigs  at  the  previous  session,  and  was  likewise  under  their  con- 
trol at  the  session  of  1840.  Re-elected  to  the  House  in  1842,  and 
his  party  having  the  majority  in  that  body,  he  was  honored  by 
being  chosen  speaker;  but  at  the  next  session,  the  Whigs  being 
in  the  ascendancy,  Edward  Stanly  succeeded  him  in  the  speaker's 
chair;  but  even  at  that  session  he  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the 
University,  some  of  his  competitors  being  distinguished  members 
of  the  Whig  Party.  In  1846  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate, 
and  at  that  session  made  a  speech  of  unusual  merit  against  the 
Whig  measure  to  redistrict  the  State  at  that  unusual  period  of  the 
decade.  This  great  effort  was  by  many  regarded  as  not  admitting 
of  a  successful  reply,  and  the  Whig  leaders  made  no  reply  to  it. 
The  Whig  speaker  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Andrew  Joyner,  fell  ill 
during  the  session,  and  the  compliment  was  paid  Mr.  Graves 
of  unanimously  electing  him  speaker  pro  tern.  At  the  next  session 
both  Houses  were  evenly  balanced,  and  by  arrangement  Judge 
Gilliam  was  elected  speaker  of  the  House  and  Mr.  Graves  speaker 
of  the  Senate.  This  was  one  of  the  most  important  sessions  of  the 
General  Assembly.  The  Raleigh  and  Gaston  Road,  which  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  State,  was  in  a  hopelessly  insolvent 
condition.  There  were  urgent  appeals  made  by  Miss  Dix  for  the 
erection  of  an  insane  asylum  for  the  care  of  the  unfortunate  insane 
who  were  confined  in  the  jails  throughout  the  State.  The  people 
were  far  from  prosperous,  especially  because  of  the  entire  failure 
of  the  crops  the  previous  year,  and  the  western  people  had  no 
facilities  of  trade  or  transportation.  At  an  internal  improvement 
convention  some  dozen  years  earlier  a  State  policy  had  been 
recommended  of  east  and  west  lines  of  railways,  but  now  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia  capitalists  proposed  to  cut  the  State  in  two 
by  a  railroad  from  Danville  to  Charlotte,  and  this  measure  had 
the  warm  support  of  Governor  Morehead  and  the  representatives 
of  the  counties  through  which  the  proposed  road  would  pass. 


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CALVIN  GRAVES  in 


The  eastern  members  opposed  that  project,  while  Governor  Gra- 
ham and  the  Board  of  Internal  Improvements  and  the  warm 
friends  of  internal  improvements  proposed  a  feeder  to  the  Raleigh 
and  Gaston  Road,  running  from  Raleigh  to  Salisbury,  to  be 
eventually  built  to  Charlotte.  None  of  these  proposed  measures 
had  enough  strength  to  overcome  the  opposition,  and  great  dis- 
satisfaction and  animosity  prevailed.  Speaker  Graves  had  warmly 
thrown  his  influence  along  with  Mr.  Gilmer,  Mr.  Dobbin  and 
others  for  the  construction  of  the  insane  asylum,  but  he  was 
embarrassed  in  regard  to  State  action  on  internal  improvements. 
At  length  a  bill  introduced  in  the  Senate  by  William  S.  Ashe,  the 
Democratic  senator  from  New  Hanover,  providing  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  east  and  west  line  from  Goldsboro  through  Raleigh 
on  to  Charlotte,  and  appropriating  $2,000,000  of  State  aid,  was  at 
the  crisis  of  a  very  dramatic  scene  in  the  House  of  Commons  taken 
from  the  files  of  the  Senate  and  after  a  severe  struggle  passed  the 
House.  To  secure  the  support  of  the  friends  of  Fayetteville,  who 
had  advocated  a  different  line,  it  was  agreed  by  the  promoters  of 
this  measure  to  give  State  aid  to  a  plank  road  from  Fayetteville 
to  Salem;  and  that  bill  passed  the  House.  In  the  Senate,  the 
Railroad  Bill  being  taken  up,  had  not  strength  enough  to  pass, 
until  the  Plank  Road  Bill  being  passed,  Alexander  Murchison, 
the  senator  from  Cumberland,  conformably  to  the  agreement, 
voted  for  it,  and  the  vote  in  the  Senate  was  a  tie.  The  Democrats 
generally,  and  particularly  those  of  Caswell  County,  were  opposed 
to  State  aid  to  internal  improvements,  holding  that  the  legislature 
had  no  right  to  use  public  funds  in  that  way;  and  besides,  the 
Danville  and  Charlotte  Road,  which  this  bill  superseded,  offered 
to  Caswell  County  railroad  facilities  which  this  measure  did  not 
give,  and  without  any  State  aid  being  asked.  Speaker  Graves 
thought  that  the  General  Assembly  had  the  power  to  make  the 
appropriation,  but  he  realized  that  his  entire  county  was  strongly 
opposed  to  this  bill,  with  its  large  appropriations,  and  offering 
no  transportation  facilities  to  his  county,  and  by  supplanting  the 
Danville  Bill,  indeed,  depriving  his  people  of  any  hope  of  railroad 
communication.    Speaker  Graves  had  abstained  from  expressing 


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112  NORTH  CAROLINA 

himself  at  all  on  the  measure,  and  no  one  knew  what  would  be 
his  action  if  the  bill  depended  on  his  casting  vote.  With  breathless 
anxiety  the  great  crowd  that  was  massed  in  the  Senate  chamber 
awaited  the  result  when  the  vote  was  announced — yeas  24,  nays  24 ; 
and  the  clerk  handed  the  record  to  the  speaker.  Mr.  Graves 
arose  from  his  chair  and  in  a  clear  voice  announced  the  result, 
and  then  he  added,  "The  speaker  votes  in  the  affirmative;  the 
bill  has  passed  the  Senate."  The  plaudits  were  deafening,  and 
the  session  of  the  Senate  was  broken  up  without  adjourning. 
Tumultuous  joy  rose  from  one  side  and  sullen  murmurs  from  the 
other.  The  speaker  realized  his  duty  as  a  citizen  of  the  State, 
and  had  the  moral  courage  to  perform  it  regardless  of  personal 
consequences.  He  knew  that  his  constituents  would  strongly  dis- 
approve of  his  action,  but  he  resigned  all  personal  ambitions  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  State.  He  never  afterward  regained 
his  lost  popularity,  and  never  was  elected  by  Caswell  County  to 
any  position  of  honor  or  trust.  As  has  been  said,  he  committed 
political  suicide  in  the  interest  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina. 

He  subsequently  took  an  active  part  in  raising  the  amount  of 
stock  required  by  the  act  to  be  subscribed  by  individuals,  and  the 
requisite  amount  not  having  been  subscribed,  he,  with  Governor 
Morehcad,  Judge  Saunders  and  Mr.  Gilmer,  was  requested  by  a 
convention  of  the  friends  of  the  road  to  canvass  the  State  for 
subscriptions,  which  they  did,  and  after  much  labor  their  efforts 
were  crowned  with  success,  and  the  act  became  operative,  and  the 
road  was  built,  resulting  in  benefits  and  advantages  to  the  people 
even  far  beyond  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  those  who 
secured  its  passage.  At  the  time  we  write,  the  State's  interest, 
which  cost  less  than  $3,000,000,  is  worth  more  than  $5,000,000; 
while  the  interests  of  the  State  have  been  unified  and  consolidated 
with  most  happy  results.  The  sacrifice  made  by  Speaker  Graves 
on  that  occasion  has  properly  endeared  him  to  North  Carolinians, 
and  a  movement  is  now  on  foot  to  erect  a  monument  to  his 
memory. 

In  1849  Governor  Manly  appointed  Mr.  Graves  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Internal  Improvements,  and  his  successor.  Governor 


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CALVIN  GRAVES  113 


Reid,  renewed  the  appointment ;  and  the  only  public  service  there- 
after rendered  by  Speaker  Graves  was  as  a  member  of  that  board. 

Mr.  Graves  married  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  John  C.  Lea,  early 
in  life,  a  happy  union  that  was  blessed  by  an  interesting  household. 

In  1837  Mr.  Graves  united  himself  with  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  throughout  his  life  exerted  an  active  influence  in  behalf  of 
the  good  works  of  that  denomination  of  Christians. 

Mr.  Graves  died  February  11,  1877,  aged  seventy-three  years, 
one  month  and  eight  days.  He  left  one  daughter  and  two  sons. 
Of  the  sons,  John  Williams  Graves  moved  West  and  died ;  George 
Graves  married,  and  Mr.  John  E.  Tucker  married  one  of  his 
daughters. 

5*.  A.  Ashe. 


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THOMAS  JEFFERSON   GREEN 

JORN  of  parentage  long  settled  in  Warren 
County,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  in  fifteen 
years  of  active  public  life,  was  a  representative 
in  four  different  State  legislatures,  a  brigadier- 
general  in  command  during  the  Texas  Revolu- 
ikm,  laid  the  foundations  of  three  cities,  by 
legislative  enactment  established  the  boundary  line  between  Texas 
and  Mexico,  which  led  to  the  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico,  and  the  resulting  acquisition  by  our  country  of  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  California  and  Nevada,  and  was  the  first  active 
advocate  of  a  railroad  from  the  marts  of  commerce  on  the  Atlantic 
slope  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Such  was  the  record  of  a  man 
of  North  Carolina  lineage,  and  reared  and  trained  among  the 
planters  of  Warren  County. 

Bom  in  1801,  amidst  the  throes  of  political  revolution,  of  which 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton  were  the  incarnate  embodiment  of  antag- 
onizing ideas,  he  received  the  name  and  espoused  the  teachings 
of  the  first,  and  clung  to  them  with  unwavering  tenacity  until  his 
final  dissolution  amidst  the  mighty  clash  of  arms  resulting  three 
score  years  later  on.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  heard  to 
declare  that  "the  best-directed  bullet  that  ever  left  the  mouth 
of  a  pistol  was  when  Colonel  Burr  pulled  trigger  on  the  heights 
of  Weehawken." 

Partly  educated  at  Chapel  Hill  and  partly  at  the  United  States 


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THOMAS   JEI-rKRSON    GRKKN 

,*  .       ^       -..^v/^i  )ilN    of    I >..rii:t :•''•/    Ini^    «;ctlic'l     in    W'ati-   , 

^\    - ^""L^^    C.;'.inty,    tic   s;.:,j''ct   if   ill's   '.k' ♦ 'li,    iii    !.:i     :i 

(^  ; '  ^>  ^^  ^  5^***^'  "^  a-nive  pv.l/'.c  hie,  was  a  r-  p-i'M".'  '  ,  •? 
L,-j  '  j[.HV  in  f'-.-.r  (!:(f..Tui*  State  u  l:^^llt^^-^.  a  l.r  /  .  .  -- 
^  ,'    ••      "^-•^^/^   ):;•;.»  ral  ii:  conniand  '];m'p.l;  I'lc  'l''x.i-^  i.   \    i  •- 

1.  .,    '  a.'ti>M"it  cst.i'Ji.-I.cJi  tl.c  iH-jnin'ar)  I'lX' L.tU'/rL  '1"    •. 

;«M''  .   ».  whii!,  k'«i  t(.  i'  '.'  war  l>"t'\t'-ii  i".*.'  l*:i;t»<i  St..t    >  ;•:-  ! 

}»^-.\  •        11.!    I'-.v:   r«'^!.!:ir^  ac'}»'i-"*;i' n   hy   (»v.r   <:  '.irr  '   "f    '^'• 
?\K'\         .  »   " '•  II. •,  I'al'fcrnn  a^il  T  '^vai.la,  an  I  was  tlie  r';-t    '..  •     •» 
.ni,  »■/*■•' a  ra'ir. -a'l  1!  'in  iIk   marls     I  c«  niinri' •*  • -n  i".<-  /  t ..  * 
.-'  >!•-♦.•        .     .    '^  .  t  lliC  ]"*ac^*!V.     S;k:-  was  tic  v  .•']  "i  \  \ 
(.*    N       '         •    »!'-M   Kn.:i::i\   a:isl    rt  'ToJ   an.l    trai'i'vi   a:i  -..,    ' 
J  !'!'  '•  r^     !    >\  '.•  T'-n  CoTity. 

J*.     '.     1   1    '-I    a  i.h.-t  \rc  'iir.  .s  nf  p./i  •;   il  t>'\   •''•♦:   n.    •!   '.     .*     ^ 
J***!'  *    •■*.  a'lr.  1'.;  :!:'".:.  n  were  t'v:  Jtt 'a- rafr  c  :'»•  '!ir:  '".:  •  i'  a  ",-    - 
<  •"••   i    c:  '■  V  '>'.  in*  i»r'i\«'l  t'  •*  '"Mi.c  an  1  c  V"'"  r,l  :!•»•  i    ..!    '  .  •* 
of  t);»    .n  ^t,  an-'  <  :;"il^  to  t    '-in  wi.'i  tin".  a^«-''  '^^  *.r.  i;i'.\    •     '  '   . 
fM..iI    !;•-  •lT:*i<  n  a*. ad  t  t!  •/  n  ..  ';'v  cla-'i    .1  a:r  ^>  :•  -•.!.'  '/  ♦'  •    • 


«■•'  ire  ^a  ..v<  \.\*c'   <.'i 


v.-  ;k'.  (  n  tia-  •  *la  r  h  .nd.  ■!«•  \.  .1-  1     •    ii 
■  :  ''-re   tl.at   "t!  0     t-t-'-r.  ci  'i   Ir-Il.-t   f    t   <'\'r   u  :t    ''a-    '..• 
(  »'  a  i>.  t  '1  '\a-  •».].  n  <  ■  !  ^a.'.   I'.'rr  p  i"  d  tr-  ,    -r  .-n  ♦';♦.   '  •  '.. 

rn::*     (''"v.  *•  1  ai  (d.-.i '1  I   :1!  \w\  \  i:dy  at  tie  V'.w^^.  :  '>: 


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^Wio 


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THOMAS   JKIFKRSON    CiKKEN 

iORN    of    p:.rcr.t:«^t'    k:i.i^    setiicl    in    W'-.n 
County,   t^o  Su!)j»-ct  Lt   tills   ^k' *  h,   n.   *  :i 
jem  '  ')i  a-'tive  public  lif-/,  was  a  p  [ri  m  -it  ••  . 
in  {*.'  '.r  (Mt'TcP/  State  K  w'l^ 'aliT-.'s.  a  --r/  .    . 
gvti*r;il  ir.  coni^'.iind  'Iitt.l;  t'lf  T'-x.^  I! 
tii>ii    !ai  :    tl  e    i'^vn  !.itu>ns   of  th'^oe   ci..'  -. 
•■.irtni'^'.t  c-^t.i-  'i>!x<i  tl.c  Ix'nun'arN  lire  It/twc-L  'I    \ 
.  ».  wli:  !.  1'.'<I  t(.  l!i'.  war  lr:t  \V':u  l\*t  I'l-it*  r^  S^.t   ^  a:- 
u.  :   tl.c   i«v;.l:ii:^  ac.p'i/i'vi'  -."i   1)\    o'lr  <:   '.rrr^'   ft    .'-'• 
.  '''":i.«,  l^al'tnrii.  I  a'j»l  !  t^va-Ja.  an  1  v.ab  tl.c  r'li-t    i<" 
.m1,  »-  :  .•    .\i  ra'!r-.o<l  1:  -ni  tiic  ni.ir'.s  .  (  c<  nin'ri'-**  .-p.  i'.'   /.?  •  •  ' 
.-'  'J''  *.    *        •'•  '  VN    -I  ihc  racifi''.     S':(.'  was  trc  r-  ■  •'  1  '•!    *  :: 
♦- f    N    .•'         I    '!:-M   liii..iu^*,   «iJ-i   Ft- 'TO;!   an  1   tTa.-'.'.J   a-p.'*.^    * 
j;'^»>'.Ts     t    ^'.-.rrcp  Connty. 

J*'  :•.     1   I  '-ii,  .i...iii>t  iro  ♦i'ro,s..i  ])•)]'[  a:  T'^v   'itti  -n.    -i  '     .• 
Jcf. '      •  'i  ..a*!  Lapp'.t.  n  v. cio  t-io  i'vaTM^v  t:..-*'  -Inr*-*  t  •  i  :p  *.•. 
<.•■••   .    J  '.  .  •*:,  ho  rrv»iv«'l   t)  ••  T'an.e  an  !  c-p-  " -<  1  :!•»'  i    i  :.  '  . 
of  I^.»   :i:-t,  an''  « '-"^.j:  t  )  t    -pi  un'i  tpp-.  a\«  "': '^'  *  i  «■*:*%      .  '  '.  . 
J'm.»i!    li-^  »l',pi.  n  a'..!(:-t  t'  -*  n  i.  '.ty  cla-';    -t  a.ws  :-  -'i'/'p-j'  *•  • 
«;-.  tr^'  \t  ^r-;  !.;♦<'.   tj^      V/.ii'c.  en  tlu*     'ixr  1;  .;   !.  hr  v  i-  \       v.   • 
.;  •  ''TO   t'.'.t    '  t'  .*   .  *  »t--'T<  w  .;   h-'l!''t   ''-t   <\'r  Ui:   '^\r   •..   • 
I  •*  a  i»'  t"l  \va-  "•.!.  n  </■  !   n«.'.  r."rr  pn"  «1  tr'  ,.  'T  •  ^n  !*;*.   '    ..  '. 

Taf'     t  '-H.  •'  1  a:  (  :  '^i -:  I   'M    jl!  |  irly  at  tic  Ump.  :  <•  :•• 


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THOMAS   JKIFIIRSON    (iKKKN 

;ORN  of  p..rd:t,'«;;('  1( 'j^  «;c:iic'l  -ii  W'trr  . 
Crnnity,  tic  Su!jj'\*t  if  li.'.s  si- ♦  •  h,  ii.  *..i  r 
Jcat  >  <'f  a-^tive  pi'.Mjc  lu\\  wa.s  a  r-pn  ««  ".'  ". 
in  ^.•".r  (i'lT'.Tcut  State  k.^r.^lalrres.  a  M/  .  .  '- 
gtn,*  r:il  in  coiririiuul  tliT'i.i;-  the  'I'-x.-?  i  \  .".- 
tioiK  lai-;  tl  e  fnni.i.itums  uf  t:K«*e  ci.i'  ^ 
•  .iL-tn.'".t  <.•^t.i•  'i.-i:c'«l  tiiC  :x')nTn'ar\  lire  l./twr'-i.  '!  \  i- 
».  wh-  !,  lc«l  t(.  t!''   war  Ir-twr-'ii  l:  ♦»  I.'nil'  'i  S\.t'  -  .1:    '. 


.  ..    'J  :i.*,  <  "a''t«'rir.  1  a^:,!  ^  '''.a-la.  an  1  \sab  tl.e  :':-:   '  • 
;<!.  •    /••..'  a  ra'lr-'o'l  1:  'in  tiic  ni-.rS  .  t  r<':iiir.fir.'  ,  .^  »'  f    /\t.: 
.^I  >[*"  *.    *'      .'•  .  •  s     f  'J^j  rac^fi-'.     S-K.    was  tl'C  r-  •■'  I  "l  'i  ' 
<  !    N      •'         •    •I-"a  Kil::^.\   a:i(l   r(.''ro^l   ai.  1   fa!:. 'J   ap.  ■'... 
J  !i'  ••  r^s     •    ^', :::  r«n  Cor.Tity. 

J'.'  :•  1  1  "I.  a  ..i«".-t  &c  ''rr<'>'sr\  p.>I/i.  :»!  r'n-.''n:t:  .^i.  •!  • 
Jl!!  •  •  •  ..'m'  I*a:':'!t.  n  v.  <•:<•  i!i  *  i'l'a- ra^<-  t:  \^'-  ''in  ••'.!  •  I  ..•^" 
(  'v  J  '.  .  i^,  he  p'.^'ivf '1  t'  ♦*  T'-an.e  ar.  !  t'-r<-i''<i  t!"^  l  .  i. 
of  I'.*  1: -t,  an-'  « '.;»^;^  I)  r  "im  uk'i  trr\  a\«r-  '^r  r  .'.'*:".  •■•''. 
jM..i!  li- ^  'Ir/i-  n  a*  -.i'i-t  t'  *  n  ..  l.iy  ela-!i  '■!  aii.'>  :•  -'i!  :  'j  *' 
«.Mr'-  \t  iT-i  l.;*e  «.'^  V.r.'e,  en  tiie  •  'I'.t.r  i;  .1  •:.  he  wa--  '  "i 
•  '.•••■re   t'-.'it   •  t!  .*     '-t-''T(Ci  .'1    l>"!lel   t'  .-t   r\*r   In't    •'-.i-    •.. 


i  |..  t.. 


1  'A a-  "'.1.  n  <."'  '■  n'.!   I>"rr  y/T 


.1 


ir- 


•n 


ra::'-    e '-u.  *    1  a;  (  '.'j":  ]   :':  'jl!  j-ii'ly  a:  t!  c  I.'nr-  »  :*>: 


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THOMAS  Jr  rrl.f;>.  \    -.r  -  f  v 

— r 

Military  Acadcmj  at  West  Tzmn,  be  jyirit^i  ir.iiK:  aiii  i  .ui^i 
his  proper  place  anxxig^  his  frisiij  ani  innir^L  in  "  arrta.  I'-inr; 

Interested  in  public  aSiir^.  lu.^  -hk  ora^r  ^^amsner  -.-f  hh 
community,  he  rcprcscn.ec  V.irr^x.  Z'jvary  rt  zitt  i^i^-imr*  jf 
1826;  but  shortly-  thereafter  bt  nxar— k:l  int  x:sixzmrr  'jz  2L^i^ 
Jesse  WTiartoo  of  Xashr-rTir.  Temiss«r_  t  :.i  iac  Tr:r*K=iK:L 
Tennessee  both  in  the  H?ase  and  S^ii«i\*^  nanrirr'  -x  luarr-sc. 
and  theretipoo  he  remcn-©d  xz  Jjuriiz.  ti«a:  *  T^  .iir^  aiii  *isr- 
gaged  in  planting,  at  the  same  mne  r^r^^sma^  m^  r-jzmj  n. 
the  Territorial  legifJarrrre, 

At  the  end  of  fine  vean  ic  tins  tann^  Id^  iia  —--au^  a:.'  -  ^1 ; 
wife  died;  ai>d  plarrTg  ins  »aiL  " ^Eanji:  '  Ztpso^  txirrr  r-.-tr 
years  of  age.  whh  a  naserBa!  rm-'r  ic  if^r.  :.s  :----:a»  v  j:"**  1'^ 
assistance  of  his  fine  Trann»c  11  lie  vj^i;^  I.r:-::-:.-  v,  7*s2t 
which  had  dien  jzisS,  be^uL  icr  1:  u^;*:ft  ir  c^rvs-^ritr^*  t—jk 
the  dominioo  of  itocicc.  ^Jwr^'cr  bat  Sim  *  |s*-'r:r7  *r  wjivrmz^ 
Toos,  daring  %pi:}ls  aac  'brVraar  inair:  nnam  laa  irPtasi^tt 
forward  on  an  errrerprifce  tc  mK±  vrL  aiii  isrvir.n.  r^.si  ,--•:*• 
motives  of  aiding  i^-ym-^msL  xl  at  acrairnK  aij*:  isrmsi  frzc^^^ 
They  poured  inis  Toaa  frvn  al  *-rr:^'-ir^  --:r  ir;^ .  -  rr^-r  t*^ 
Southern  States,  aac  aan-njr  iMai   iJ    tiirr*  vra:  i--'^  it-vt- -j^ 

in  matchless  cifralrv  arac  uit  ztr-:  -rrirr.   '^'  f:/'   r-  : --."     '. 

this  Warren  Countj  ^tsrjassxx.  T":!*  c-jTrrn  t  r—:-  r»  •  ^^  irr  >- 
ated  them  aH  was  to  free  -tic  nrv  i.rvJ  *  r ,—  *•'  ,  >-  ^^ 
yoke,  and  to  «reci  a  free  5*30*  liznil^ir  .-  :-'■*"  •  -  --'^■^^ 
Unioa. 

Arriving  is  ;*36.  Ti*:Kia*  >rfl-r">vi  jrrr-  -»  s  v  -— -  :  :  .-'•^ 
brigadier-gcxxn:  aoc  t::r-!n*rt  v.  -pr:m  .-  :  -  r^r  -  <^  -  -^  ^  ^ 
brigade.  Uoiertakmr  t^  vj'f.  i#*  v-a  !'-.-•  :  -  -  .  ^r-  :*- 
mcnts,  bat  his  apcE^ies  v  •il-^n-ir:  a  -*  "  ^r^  ^  •  v*-  ■  ^>.  -  -"  -'■*' 
In  the  meactrse  tiie  otr::^:!''*  "wr::**  "  '>^  ,<r  —  -;;*'  .»'*-'  r  .-^ 
against  overwbehiiiiir  t*:*-:  HiJt  l-'^  ^.'-rr.-*^=s:  r^-irr.  s-.r— -  '>«-•> 
Anna,  was  a  pciwncr  Fat*  ir.  .i-'^r— .  li^  V-rr-.  V-^  - 
arrive  at  Vesa»cr,  at  li<?  I'lrn^rta  'jj-  tiit  ':<£— i:  'r-^  r  -^  .-. 
leased  and  yxx^^  ut  a  irar  •->•-  .  ^  v--r  .*---  ;  -r-  '--  r 
General   GroesL   Ifcumnc^  -It;:    ^rrpc^'^r=t  ^    -'^ 


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ii6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

boarded  the  vessel  and  brought  him  ashore,  and  in  this  action  he 
was  fully  sustained  by  the  government  of  Texas,  and  the  dis- 
tinguished prisoner  was  consigned  to  his  custody  for  safe  keeping. 
During  the  period  when  Santa  Anna  was  under  his  charge,  he 
was  treated  with  all  the  consideration  of  a  distinguished  guest. 
The  courtesy  which  a  North  Carolina  gentleman,  animated  by  a 
chivalrous  spirit,  showed  to  his  unfortunate  priscMier  was  ill 
requited  when  later  General  Green  fell  within  the  power  of  the 
Mexican;  as  if  actuated  by  malice  and  venom,  Santa  Anna 
wreaked  vengeance  on  him,  ordered  him  to  be  heavily  ironed,  and 
sentenced  him  to  work  on  the  public  roads.  But  man  proposes 
without  being  able  to  achieve.  General  Green  refused  to  perform 
the  labor,  though  threatened  with  death  as  the  alternative. 

After  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  there  was  a  period  of  comparative 
quietude,  but  later  Santa  Anna  ag^in  beg^n  to  make  incursions 
that  were  attended  by  tmsurpassed  barbaric  atrocity.  Then,  as  if 
by  common  consent,  a  counter  invasion  was  resolved  upon  by  the 
Texans.  A  force  of  two  or  three  thousand  assembled,  but  when 
on  the  eve  of  movement  the  larger  part  were  induced  to  disband 
by  President  Sam  Houston,  leaving  but  700,  who  were  resolved  to 
proceed.  They  crossed  into  Mexico,  and  then  the  commander. 
General  Summerville,  determined  to  abandon  the  enterprise,  and 
starting  homeward,  was  accompanied  by  one-half  of  his  little 
army.  Three  hundred  gallant  fellows,  however,  refused  to  follow, 
and  determined  to  try  conclusions  with  the  Mexicans  on  their  own 
ground.  The  battle  of  Mier  was  fought,  in  which  261  Texans, 
after  inflicting  a  loss  of  some  800  upon  the  foe,  were  influenced 
to  surrender  by  a  false  claim  and  a  falser  promise.  General  Green, 
the  second  in  command,  protested  vehemently,  and  called  for 
volunteers  to  cut  their  way  through  the  enemy's  lines,  but  without 
avail.  Disarmed,  the  little  band  was  being  conducted  to  the  castle 
of  Perote  when  General  Green  found  means  to  enjoin  upon  his 
men  to  make  a  break  if  opportunity  should  occur.  This  they  did 
at  Salado,  and  started  back  for  Texas.  Subsequently  recaptured, 
Santa  Anna  ordered  that  every  tenth  man  of  his  prisoners  should 
be  led  out  and  slaughtered.    Among  those  unfortunates  was  Gen- 


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THOMAS  JEFFERSON  GREEN  117 

eral  Green.  When  all  preliminaries  to  the  command  "Fire !"  had 
been  arranged,  the  captain  in  charge  asked  General  Green  if  he 
would  make  a  dying  speech.  In  his  answer  General  Green  referred 
to  him  as  a  "paid  butcher."  The  Mexican  officer  repudiated  the 
profession,  and  said,  "If  General  Santa  Anna  requires  paid 
butchers,  he  will  have  to  find  a  substitute  for  me."  Finally  the 
prisoners  were  incarcerated  in  the  dungeon  of  Perote.  Sixteen 
of  the  most  resolute  determined  to  escape.  To  do  this  they  had 
to  cut  through  an  eight-foot  wall  composed  of  hard  volcanic  rock 
with  the  most  crude  and  indiflferent  tools.  At  length  it  was 
accomplished,  and  on  the  night  of  July  2,  1843,  ^^^y  escaped, 
and  overcoming  almost  insurmountable  obstacles,  eight  of  them, 
after  incalculable  sufferings  and  many  hairbreadth  escapes,  reached 
Texas,  among  them  being  General  Green. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  at  home,  General  Green  was  returned 
to  the  Congress  of  Texas,  and  during  his  legislative  service  intro- 
duced a  bill  making  the  Rio  Grande  the  boundary  line  between 
Texas  and  Mexico.  It  was  on  the  basis  of  this  additional  claim 
then  set  up  that  President  Polk  g^ve  those  orders  which  resulted 
in  the  Mexican  War.  The  acquisition  of  the  vast  territory  subse- 
quently acquired  by  the  United  States  is  thus  indirectly  attribut- 
able to  General  Green's  action  in  the  Congress  of  Texas. 

It  was  about  that  time  when  Texas  was  on  the  eve  of  annexation 
that  General  Green  returned  to  the  United  States  and  was  happily 
married  to  the  widow  of  John  S.  Ellery  of  Boston,  a  lady  of  rare 
worth  and  many  attractions.  In  1849,  <>"  ^he  discovery  of  large 
deposits  of  gold  in  California,  many  adventurous  spirits  crossed 
from  Texas  to  that  unknown  region,  and  among  them  was  General 
Green,  who,  after  working  for  some  time  in  the  mines,  became  a 
member  of  the  first  Senate  elected  in  that  State,  and  then  was  a 
prominent  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate.  He  projected 
and  laid  out  the  towns  of  Oro  and  Vallejo,  the  latter  being  for 
some  time  the  recognized  capital  of  California.  There  being  some 
Indian  outbreaks,  he  was  appointed  major-general  of  the  militia, 
and  led  an  expedition  to  suppress  the  savages,  and  his  success  was 
such  as  to  still  further  enhance  his  reputation.    In  the  Assembly 


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ii8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

he  took  strong  ground  against  a  proposition  to  pass  a  law  which 
authorized  the  absolute  separation  of  husband  and  wife  upon  their 
mutual  request,  which  was  a  virtual  annulment  of  the  sanctity 
of  the  marriage  relation.  There  were  but  few  who  opposed  this 
proposition,  but,  like  Senator  Green,  their  antagonism  to  it  was 
so  bitter  and  earnest  that  after  exhausting  all  devices  of  parlia- 
mentary strategy,  they  succeeded  in  postponing  the  vote,  and 
thereby  succeeded  in  defeating  the  measure.  During  the  same 
session  he  introduced  and  successfully  advocated  a  bill  for  the 
establishment  of  a  State  University,  an  institution  which  has  since 
become  one  of  the  greatest  Universities  on  the  continent.  Pioneer 
and  soldier,  he  was  also  a  statesman,  and  he  projected  a  trans- 
continental railroad,  and  submitted,  in  1849,  ^"  elaborate  memorial 
to  Congress  on  the  subject.  This  was  the  Southern  Pacific,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  original  directors. 

Thus  in  four  States  General  Green  served  in  a  legislative 
capacity,  bringing  to  the  consideration  of  public  affairs  an  en- 
lightened spirit  and  a  purpose  to  advance  the  social  condition  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  while  instilling  a  fervid  patriotism. 

General  Green,  also,  on  his  escape  from  Mexico,  published  a 
volume  on  the  Mier  campaign,  that  attests  his  ability  both  as  a 
writer  and  as  a  military  man. 

In  his  declining  years  he  returned  to  his  native  county,  and 
made  his  home  on  a  plantation  on  Shocco  Creek  known  as 
'"Esmeralda,"  and  there  passed  his  remaining  days  as  a  planter 
in  the  midst  of  old  friends,  and  dispensing  an  old-fashioned 
hospitality. 

Realizing  from  the  trend  of  events  that  a  sectional  contest  must 
inevitably  ensue  between  the  North  and  the  South,  although 
warmly  attached  to  **the  Union  of  the  Constitution,"  he  became 
a  Secessionist,  and  believed  that  time  only  made  the  North  a 
stronger  antagonist  when  the  bitter  crisis  should  arise.  On  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  his  spirit  would  have  led  him  to  the 
tented  field,  but  he  was  debarred  by  a  chronic  disease,  and  eventu- 
ally succumbed  to  its  inroads  on  his  constitution;  and  he  passed 
away  on  the  12th  of  December,  1863. 


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THOMAS  JEFFERSON  GREEN  119 

Mr.  Tasker  Polk  has  drawn  a  fine  delineation  of  this  famous 
North  Carolinian : 

''Among  all  her  illustrious  sons  of  the  past,  there  is  not  one  at  the 
shrine  of  whose  memory  Warren  County  bows  with  greater  love  and 
reverence  than  that  of  General  Thomas  J.  Green.  He  was  generous  to  a 
fault,  noble  and  grand,  fiery  and  impulsive;  heard  the  Texan  cry  for 
freedom,  left  a  home  of  luxury,  sought  the  field  where  blood  like  water 
flowed,  unsheathed  his  sword  in  defense  of  a  stranger's  land,  nor  sheathed 
it  till  that  land  was  freed.  The  cry  of  the  oppressed  reached  his  ears 
and  was  answered  by  his  unselfish  heart — ^that  heart  gave  its  first  beat  of 
life  'neath  Warren's  sky.  Bravely  and  gallantly  he  fought;  his  blood 
stained  the  plains  and  broad  prairies  of  Texas;  the  cause  for  which  he 
fought  triumphed;  the  'Lone  Star  State'  was  saved  from  Mexican  perse- 
cution, and  his  chivalric  nature  was  satisfied.  Years  passed,  but  the 
memory  of  old  Warren  still  remained  fresh  in  his  mind.  He  returned  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  his  illustrious  life  among  his  people;  and  many 
yet  there  are  who  remember  with  pleasure  how  'Esmeralda's'  door,  whether 
touched  by  the  hands  of  rich  or  poor,  ever  swung  upon  the  hinges  of 
hospitality." 

S,  A.  Ashe. 


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WHARTON  JACKSON   GREEN 

[HARTON  JACKSON  GREEN  of  Tokay  Vine- 
yard, near  Fayetteville,  was  bom  near  St. 
Marks,  in  Wakula  County,  in  the  Territory 
of  Florida,  on  the  28th  of  February,  1831. 
Colonel  Green  has  a  distinguished  lineage.  His 
father.  General  Thomas  Jefferson  Green,  whose 
career  in  Texas  made  him  famous,  was  born  in  Warren  County, 
North  Carolina,  in  1801.  He  was  a  planter,  pioneer,  soldier  and 
legislator.  A  resident  during  his  eventful  life  of  several  States, 
he  always  moved  among  the  first  men  of  every  community  with 
which  his  fortunes  were  cast,  and  he  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  before  that  State  was  admitted 
into  the  American  Union.  Early  trained  as  a  soldier,  he  removed 
to  Texas  and  joined  in  the  struggle  which  that  State  was  making 
for  independence,  and  so  conspicuously  daring  was  his  service 
there,  that  he  rose  by  his  merit  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general. 
While  a  member  of  the  Congress  of  Texas,  he  formulated  the 
measure  declaring  the  Rio  Grande  the  boundary  between  the  two 
Republics,  which  later  became  the  basis  of  the  war  declared  by 
President  Polk  against  Mexico,  that  led  to  the  acquisition  by  the 
United  States  of  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  California  and  the  con- 
tiguous territory.  He  was  a  man  of  high  spirit,  quick  to  con- 
ceive and  bold  in  action. 

Through  him.  Colonel  Green  is  by  well-established  family  gene- 


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WHARTON  JACKSON  GREEN  121 

Alogy,  not  to  say  historic  tradition,  in  lineal  descent  from  Sir  John 
Hawkins,  one  of  the  immortal  quartet  of  mariners  who  were  the 
conservators  of  English  liberty,  civil,  religious  and  political,  at 
the  most  critical  jtmcture  in  English  history,  the  other  three  being 
Howard  of  Effingham,  Drake  and  Frobisher.  Through  the  con- 
joint efforts  of  these  four,  Philip's  grand  Armada  was  forced 
to  renounce  its  proud  assumption  of  "the  invincible."  Surely,  the 
world  should  look  with  lenient  eye  on  the  foibles  of  such  as  these, 
even  if  Sir  John  and  his  cousin,  Sir  Francis,  did,  with  her  gracious 
Majesty's  consent  and  approval,  run  a  few  cargoes  of  African 
savages  across  the  ocean  and  start  the  business  which  Massachu- 
setts and  the  Providence  Plantations  followed  so  systematically 
and  with  such  great  profit,  eventually  selling  their  own  slaves 
to  otlier  plantations  whose  climate  was  more  in  accord  with  their 
native  and  normal  instincts. 

ColcMiel  Green  is  also  of  the  same  strain  as  Nathaniel  Macon, 
who  was  his  great-uncle,  and  for  whom  he  entertained  the  highest 
veneration,  and  whose  political  virtues  he  sought  to  emulate. 

Through  his  mother,  who  was  Miss  Sarah  Angelina  Wharton 
of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  Colonel  Green  is  a  grandson  of  Hon. 
Jesse  Wharton,  formerly  United  States  senator  from  Tennessee, 
who,  like  his  paternal  grandfather,  Solomon  Green  of  Warren 
County,  enjoyed  in  a  superlative  degree  a  reputation  for  excep- 
tional justness  and  uprightness  of  character,  and  was  of  superior 
ability. 

In  youth  Colonel  Green  was  strong  and  robust,  and  richly 
endowed  intellectually;  had  an  insatiable  appetite  for  history, 
memoirs,  biography  and  travels,  while  he  was  also  fond  of  poetry, 
fiction  and  the  drama.  Out  of  doors  he  was  a  practiced  horse- 
man, and  found  recreation  in  hunting,  fishing  and  the  field  sports 
which  the  gentlemen  of  that  day  followed  with  zest  and  enthusi- 
asm, for  his  life  was  largely  passed  in  the  woods  and  along  the 
streams  in  the  midst  of  nature  and  distant  from  the  artificial 
environments  of  towns  and  cities.  He  received  a  liberal  and 
thorough  education  at  Georgetown  College,  the  University  of 
Virginia  and  West  Point,  and  all  through  life  his  traits  and  char- 


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122  NORTH  CAROLINA 

- 

acteristics  and  personal  bearing  have  been  distinctly  referable  to 
his  training  and  education.  Having  studied  law  at  the  University 
of  Virginia  and  the  Cumberland  University,  on  his  admission  to 
the  bar  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  in  1855,  he  was 
associated  with  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker  and  Mr.  Lewis  Janin  in 
his  professional  career.  But  the  ill  consequences  of  a  sedentary 
life  eventually  compelled  him  to  relinquish  his  professional  work, 
and  taking  the  saddle,  he  rode  1500  miles  throughout  Texas,  look- 
ing after  landed  interests;  and  the  exercise  and  experience  re- 
established his  health  on  a  firm  basis.  When  the  war  broke  out, 
he  at  once  joined  the  Warren  Guards,  a  company  of  the  Twelfth 
North  Carolina  Regiment,  taking  his  place  in  the  ranks  as  a 
private,  but  he  was  soon  promoted  to  be  lieutenant-colonel,  com- 
manding the  Second  North  Carolina  Battalion,  which  he  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  raising.  Along  with  his  command  he 
was  captured  at  the  surrender  of  Roanoke  Island,  the  surrender 
being  determined  on  against  his  strenuous  protests.  He  was  soon 
exchanged,  and  at  Washington,  North  Carolina,  he  was  wounded 
by  a  shell.  His  command  was  ordered  to  rendezvous  at  Drury's 
Bluff,  and  the  battalion  became  a  part  of  Daniel's  Brigade,  when 
Colonel  Green  became  attached  to  General  Daniel's  staff,  and 
accompanied  him  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  war,  cour- 
ageously and  intelligently  performing  every  duty,  until  he  was 
wounded  and  captured  at  Gettysburg.  As  a  prisoner,  he  was 
first  taken  to  the  hospital  at  Frederick  and  then  to  Fort  McHenry ; 
thence  he  was  conveyed  to  Fort  Delaware,  and  finally  he  suffered 
a  long  incarceration  on  Johnson's  Island,  in  Lake  Erie.  It  was 
only  a  few  weeks  before  General  Lee  evacuated  Petersburg  that 
Colonel  Green  was  released  from  his  confinement,  and  as  soon 
as  President  Davis  heard  of  his  return  from  Johnson's  Island 
he  nominated  him  to  the  Senate  for  appointment  as  brigadier- 
general,  but  in  the  then  critical  state  of  affairs  the  Senate  failed 
to  act  upon  the  nomination,  as  it  was  compelled  to  do  in  regard 
to  a  multitude  of  other  matters  pressing  for  consideration.  When 
peace  was  restored.  Colonel  Green  returned  to  his  plantation  near 
Warrenton  and  began  anew  his  favorite  pursuit  in  life,  agriculture, 


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WHARTON  JACKSON  GREEN  123 

which  not  only  afforded  him  agreeable  occupation,  but  allowed 
ample  time  for  that  recreation  which  was  so  agreeable  to  him  as  a 
man  of  letters.  In  his  library  were  the  friends  of  his  youth  and 
the  companions  of  his  maturer  years — Gibbon,  Carlyle,  Thiers, 
Prescott,  Alison,  Motley,  Macaulay,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Byron 
and  the  whole  host  of  authors  who  have  contributed  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  human  nature  through  the  efforts  of  their  genius.  But 
literature  did  not  alone  engage  him ;  he  became  a  student  of  politi- 
cal economy  and  of  the  great  questions  that  pressed  upon  the 
people  in  his  day  for  a  correct  solution. 

In  1868  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  Conven- 
tion, and  also  Presidential  elector,  and  in  1876  he  was  again  a 
delegate,  and  participated  in  the  nomination  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 
Somewhat  later,  he  purchased  the  Tokay  Vineyard,  near  Fayette- 
ville,  and  removed  there,  and  in  1882  his  prominence  as  a  states- 
man, his  high  character,  fine  capacity  and  merit  led  to  his  nomina- 
tion in  the  Cape  Fear  district  as  a  representative  in  Congress. 
After  a  thorough  canvass  and  a  close  contest,  he  was  successful 
at  the  polls  by  500  majority,  and  two  years  later  he  was  re-elected 
by  a  majority  of  2600.  In  1886,  when  the  Congressional  con- 
vention was  held  in  his  district,  he  received  within  a  small  fraction 
of  two-thirds  of  the  delegates  through  three  hundred  and  thirty 
consecutive  ballots,  the  two-thirds  rule  having  been  in  use  at  the 
two  previous  conventions.  The  few  friends  of  contesting  candi- 
dates, however,  by  combination,  defeated  the  wish  of  the  majority. 
Under  the  circumstances,  Colonel  Green  was  urged  to  assent  to 
the  abrogation  of  that  two-thirds  rule,  which  would  have  resulted 
in  his  nomination  by  a  large  majority,  but  he  preferred  not  doing 
so,  and  virtually  declined  receiving  a  nomination  unless  on  the 
basis  of  a  two-thirds  majority,  and  he  retired  from  Congress 
rather  than  sacrifice  an  iota  of  self-respect  by  deviating  from  party 
custom. 

In  Congress,  as  in  all  his  public  utterances,  he  advocated  a 
strict  construction  of  the  Constitution  and  States  Rights.  He  has 
ever  believed  that  that  doctrine  was  the  cornerstone  and  founda- 
tion of  our  confederated  system  of  government,  and  he  has  clung 


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124  NORTH  CAROLINA 

to  it  in  its  integrity  and  pristine  purity,  fully  convinced  that  on  its 
observance  depends  at  last  the  perpetuity  of  our  beneficent 
institutions. 

Many  of  his  addresses  on  the  floor  of  the  House  were  on  im- 
portant questions,  and  were  well  conceived,  and  contained  evi- 
dence that  he  was  thorough  master  of  his  subject;  while  on  the 
hustings,  he  has  been  a  forcible  speaker,  presenting  his  views 
with  clearness  and  vigor,  and  always  receiving  the  approbation 
of  his  party  friends. 

By  nature  generous,  liberal  in  disposition  and  prompt  in  action, 
Colonel  Green  has  always  been  a  popular  favorite,  and  he  has  a 
pleasing  address  that  at  once  places  him  on  easy  terms  with  those 
among  whom  he  is  thrown.  Long  engaged  in  agriculture,  his 
interests  have  been  identified  with  the  farming  class,  and  after 
he  purchased  the  Tokay  property  in  1879  ^^  joined  to  farm- 
ing the  business  of  wine  making  and  grape  culture.  The  Tokay 
wines  have  long  held  a  high  place  among  the  standard  brands 
of  America,  and  that  vineyard  is  understood  to  be  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  United  States  outside  of  California.  In  its  care, 
enlargement  and  constant  cultivation  Colonel  Green  has  found 
ample  occupation,  but  still  his  active  mind  and  large  fund  of 
varied  information  render  it  easy  for  him  to  elucidate  public 
questions  and  throw  light  on  matters  of  interest,  and  he  not  infre- 
quently makes  some  admirable  contributions  to  the  public  prints. 
He  has,  however,  never  appeared  before  the  public  in  the  role 
of  an  author,  notwithstanding  he  has  written  so  much  for  the 
public  eye,  but  it  is  understood  that  he  is  now  engaged  in  writing 
an  autobiography  of  a  reminiscent  character.  Taking  a  great 
interest  in  Confederate  history.  Colonel  Green  was  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Society  of  Confederate  Soldiers  and  Sailors  in  North 
Carolina,  and  so  continued  for  many  years.  And  he  has  ever 
been  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  President  Davis,  there  having 
been  a  warm  personal  friendship  existing  for  many  years  between 
them.  A  Southern  man,  full  of  the  traditions  of  the  past,  he  has 
in  defeat  borne  himself  as  a  chivalrous  knight,  with  no  diminution 
of  Southern  pride,  but  without  fruitless  repining.     In  his  ad- 


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WHARTON  JACKSON  GREEN  125 

vancing  years  Colonel  Green,  surrounded  by  his  books,  interested 
in  his  operations  at  Tokay,  with  an  intelligent  appreciation  of 
passing  events,  enjoys  the  afternoon  of  life  with  ease  and  amid 
comforts,  in  dignified  retirement  from  the  harassing  anxieties  of 
ambitious  conflicts.  In  his  early  youth  the  adventures  of  Marion, 
and  Sargent  Jasper's  heroism,  and  the  life  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
cut  the  cord  of  his  own  ambition  and  awoke  a  response  in  his 
nature,  and  his  life  has  had  a  keynote  in  accord  with  their  ad- 
venturous careers;  and  he  now  dwells  with  his  favorite  authors, 
and  remembers  that  the  Latin  philosopher  has  said : 

"Invcni  portum;  spes  ct  fortuna  valctc, 
Sat  me  lusistis,  ludite  nunc  alios." 

Colonel  Green  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  his 
religious  affiliations  are  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
of  which  he  is  a  communicant. 

Colonel  Green's  varied  experience  in  life  leads  him  to  suggest 
that  the  young  men  of  America' can  perhaps  with  advantage  select 
some  worthy  exemplar  for  their  imitation,  and  cling  to  a  well- 
marked  and  fixed  purpose  to  attain  the  goal  they  have  in  view. 
This,  he  thinks,  would  tend  to  aid  them  in  achieving  success  in 
life  on  meritorious  lines. 

Colonel  Green  has  been  twice  married ;  his  first  wife  was  Miss 
Esther  S.  Ellery  of  Boston,  by  whom  he  had  four  children,  three 
of  whom  are  now  living,  one  being  the  accomplished  and  elegant 
wife  of  Mr.  Pembroke  Jones,  another  of  George  B.  Elliott  of 
Richmond,  the  third,  Carrie,  unmarried ;  and  he  married  a  second 
time  Mrs.  Addie  B.  Davis,  the  widow  of  Judge  David  Davis  of 
Illinois,  by  whom  he  has  had  no  children. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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J'.VI-r/lAII  A!.l'X\XIii:R  (iLDCl-R,  I:..,    .  -. 
P^    jiiu-il  aii>l  'lipi'  mat,  was  ^miii  in  t''.<_  •'i»i:!it. 
II     K^J    ^''i<'i>''n.    >t<;te   (^\    X»!iii    La:'>!'.iid,    M   v     •' 
iCJ    ^^\'J-      ^^^'   rcr"i\vv!    lii>   cir])    tr.niiinj   ::i    '    ■ 
AjJ   C)nur.'>n  ncIi  )<•!>  of  tlic  CMiii^ty,  an«l  l-ni  * 

\\'<avcrvii^  ('uilf^r,  r.iinc  in'iH    (.\'".i:ty.  ""^    '    . 
Car-Tiina,    i»m).    nviivir^i:   li.:«T   liio   (K'/rrc  «  f   A  M.    if'  'ii    :'.     * 
cnlli  ;;f.     liv   stn.l:  fi  law  at  liaiioy's  Law  Sv'ht-.,!,  A^!ic\iilc.  N* 
Car'»;.!ia,  and  \\a.-  a'»r^itt*  I  Uj  practice  law  by  ibe  S'lprcM-  ..    .  * 
(•!  N   rt!;  L'ar<»'ina  in  i>^7i.     . 

Il'  CM[n^*S  of  A^i^i"  SaX'»n  nnront;«:;(\  and  ''(!•  ri^s  to  '  *'\t'  •>♦  • 
!  .r-' Nt  an-.l  n  o^t  in!i::«  ntl  d  fan.ilics  in  XW-sN-rn  X^rti;  <.'a:<  .  = 
iii>  laMifi,  J"^t''>!i  J.  (ind';rr,  v/a^  a  iv-aii  of  coris'-lcia' 1(*  ;•!•  •  :- 
i:Hr.  i  in  !'!>  ^<.cti,»Ti.  was  a  canii«:ate  ff»r  ili»*  lcij;.-i'«ti:ro  i»i  :  ^-  • 
and  f'.r  :hr  c^nvcntiun  !.i?'T  in  IM»I.  His  onI\  LrotluT,  F-n.  J  *  V 
(ji:  Il'-T.  Jr..  is  rlu-  prt'^cr.t  nuMn'o'T  of  G-iiLpTss  from  ti.c  'I  '•'  - 
Corij^rt'^-ion.d  I  ):-T:ct. 

Mr.  ^iu'iu 't    'A.i>  niairitd   in    i'^75   to  Mi><  J-.-n^if   H     S"    ■ 
•  IrU.;-  :•  r  f,f   i',..  .•^^  J.  >:i  '^h,  wi  o  vas  ?  ivrnV'-T  of  t^x'  «'   • 
tnt'.onil  rMu.pTN.n  «d  tJ^,^5.  a^d  li.i>  ^y  h's  ii.arriaL:'.-  n.*'' 
•!id''''-n.  txso  |n  .y»i- "IVancis   ;\.   rind,."T,  a   praLtiv  "'u   l.i'.     •: 
A-ii«'vi.''     X  •:♦!!  L\r.)!iiri.  and  ]itrn..in  A.  Cl':«'L,t:.  'n  1   :  ■ 
in    n/la>.   '1  ev-i<--.,'id    tl.rt*.-   i^li's— Mrs.   /\'ia   L.   C-^'*.    "-- 
^'   rv   l\.  Xidv.ls  an  1  Mii^  Fr.inia  (i.  l.;  t. 


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wa:m 


;  irist  aii'l  <!ij»:-  m.it.  was  h. >rii  in  tit*  <'.>i:iil, 
M.'uii.s.Mi,    S\.!c   of    X-)!iii    (  ar'.!;iia,    M   y    .  ' 
\>^yj.      ii<*   rc\ri\..  v!    l,i>   (\ir]\    trcHiiin*:    -n    '    • 
r  'nMr.iMi  sc!;  >«  is  nf  t!ic  c«»i:::ly,  ,iu<\  1  :;!•' 
\\'«  civci  \  tiU   ^'•^r.c'.^^*,  ^.lnu^  ::!'»'    C\''!r.ty    \'  •' 
Car/i;\i.    iX'm).    rtM'ivir'i:    hu"r    I'nt^    dn-roc   «f    AM.    fr- ni    :'.     * 
lolii^c.     lie  sti:<I-   .1  law  at  Haiioy's  I^iw  SvhtM.l,  A^litviilc,  V 
C»:!»;,!ia,  and  vs.iN  aiir^iTt*   1  Uj  practice  law  by  t:u*  S'lprf^t    ^     .  •. 
vi  ]\    rtli  i\ir'.''na  in  1X71.     . 

I  i'  Corn'*')  of  Ari^l  •  Sa\<  »n  pift  :il.ti;'\  and  'k  1.  t-;l:s  to  rv  .  .•'  • 
I.ir.^' Nt  an!  i.-r-t  in'l.;' i.ti.i!  ian.:lics  in  \\''/s*»  rn  N<  rti:  <'ar-  •  . 
Jii>  fa'licr.  I"^«M)!i  J.  (in.!';rr,  wa^  a  man  of  coti^i-lcra' If*  ;•'•  •  : 
iiH-n '«  in  lii^  -<.1'>»ti.  was  a  car..l'<iate  f^r  lii'*  1<-l.'^-i  »ti:n»  ii,  •  ^.  . 
and  I'-r  :\\v  c  nvcntiun  !".t.  r  in  iSf>i.  His  onl\  Lr^tluT,  I^  -n.  J  ?•' 
(ji:  !l:  t,  Jr..  is  tlu-  j)T'"'j*nt  nu*niiw  r  of  Cimi^TtS!*  fr  mi  t'.c  '1  :  ** 
C"«»i.u:''«  ^-lun.d  1  )'-rict. 

Mr.   ^Iii'Ilci    was  n'iair;«d   in    1X75    io   Mi>'^  Jcn.n*«     I!.    !  •     • 
•  IcUi::"  '' r  (.i   i'...  fiis  J.    ^:,  '*h.  w  i  ,-.  v  as  ,-%   n>rn:'.' r  of  t^-o  i    •; 
♦ntojMl  r  n\''n-'«,n  «»f  T.^^5.  ai^'d  lui<  ^v  r's  n.arriai:«*  ti.o      .  • 
■  !:d'!'-n.   two  !^'>ys- -d  raiicis   A.   (itid^.r.  a   pract'a  i:-*^   1.'.  ••: 
Adi.^vi.'-.   V   r»h  C'.'.'»I  r.'t.  an  I  ]l(rn.,.n  A.  (i^id^^tr.   in  !   : 
in    D.da.s,   drv.^,  ..nd    tl.rc'*   triiU-Mr^.    .Nda   L.   C  ►.    < .    '!'- 
M    rv  n.  Nid'  .is  an  1  Mii^  Ki.irna  (]i.  !.:t. 


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ni'/KKIAII    A[,i:XANUl.R   (lUUGLR 

[EZhr.iAii  ai.kx\ni>i:r  (ii;i)G:::i<.  l.   ,- 

Jitli-;!  an*l  «iipi   nMt.  was  ])Mrn  in  iLc  .'. •i:iit. 
M:i(li>.>n.    >tc/ve   of    X):fn    (.ar-'liKd,    M    y 
l^yj.      ilo    rc\.ci\vvl    lii.s    (.Mfl)    tra::iir.:    'ii    ' 
C'*SI'ni  '11  sdi  M  Is  of  t'lo  coui'ty,  .'iii<!  t-.ii  * 
Wiavorxiilv    roi'.c^H*,   iUi:K»::i:'«    C\'Urty.   ^*    '    . 
Cai()'::\i.    iSfM).    n*va'.virL;    h.i'T   ihc    (iciTce   •!    AM.    fr<  :n    :'     * 
coll.  l;o.     \u  ^tivl-  ■<{  law  at  iJailry's  I^iw  S^h. ». .1,  A^iv.v'ilo,  ^»    • 
Car* »i Jul,  aiul  w.is  a-u^'itt'  I  to  i)raotice  law  by  tl^o  S'lprrr^'r  L 
c>f  X    rtii  t"ar«.'ina  in  1.S71.     . 

\\'   v'MriiHs  (»f  Afi^i  •  Sa\'»n  nirc;i{a.i;<\  am!  ''tl.  '^i^s  Im  ••'v  «•' 
!  ir.4'st  ail  1  i/<  ^t  iii'lu*  liti  il  iaii.:lics  in  \\'c>*' rn  N'«rt;:  <.'a:'    . 
Jii.s  fa'luT.  J"^<.'oh  J.  (in«i;<T,  wa<  a  r.ian  oi  co-i^ilcia' It*  ;-'•  • 
incr.  •(    in  ii!>  si't'  »ti.  was  a  caPiii'iate  f<»r  iii<*  ic^^i.-iitiir-*  i*.   '  *^ 
an-i  f'.r  t!ic  c  nwMitit'n  la^T  in  iN)i.    His  or.l\  LroiluT,  I^   p.  ^    '•' 
(ir.  Il:  T,  Jr.,  is  flu-  jjr'*^cr,t  nu-niixT  of  C«»n|.^r(.'ss  fr.>ni  ti.<    '1    ■  ' 
Coin^rt  s^ion.'!  I  ):>trict. 

Mr.   '^ii.'ii^/r    was  nnirir<l   in    i!^r5    to   M:^<  Jonnic    \\     . 
tl.iii:;'  ''.r  r.\    1',..  .*rs  J.   sji    rh.  vi.o  v  is  ?.  pm-h:'   t  of  t'  0  « 
tnt'.MiMl  r  .n\.Tti.,:i  of   i>^,v^.  aTi-l  ha'*  ^y  bi<  n.arriaL,"  n   " 
•  r.'l  !''•!!.  t^so  !'• 'Vs'-.I-'raiKi^   :\.   rii:.!^,T,  a   i-ractiv":!^   1   ' 
Amm^vi!'-     \'r*!i  C';i'oIirt.  an-I   Iitrni..n  A.  Cli'a';,t:.    w  \    ' 
in    n/la^.    'I  f'xa^-- .1-1(1    tl.rcf*    iriiis— Mrs.    /\«ia    L.    Ch 
M   rv  \\.  S\h  .Is  anl  Mi.<  K:.i:na  fi.  :.:t. 


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HEZEKIAH  ALEXANDER  GUDGER  127 

In  early  life  Mr.  Gudger  was  an  ardent  Demcxrrat,  and  in  1872 
was  nominated  by  a  Demcxrratic  convention  of  Madison  County  to 
represent  that  county  in  the  legislature;  and  though  the  county 
was  largely  Republican,  he  was  elected  by  a  good  majority,  and 
served  in  that  capacity  for  three  consecutive  terms.  While  in 
the  legislature  he  served  on  many  important  committees,  prin- 
cipal among  them  being  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  and  the 
Committee  on  Propositions  and  Grievances,  being  chairman  of  the 
last-named  committee  during  most  of  his  term  of  office  as  legis- 
lator, and  as  such  had  consideration  of  local  option  matters  within 
the  State. 

Being  himself  an  ardent  Prohibitionist,  Mr.  Gudger  undertook 
to  accomplish  by  local  option,  as  far  as  was  possible,  prohibition  in 
the  State,  and  with  this  in  view,  he  incorporated  churches,  schools, 
and  religious  organizations,  and  imder  the  rights  of  local  option 
legislation  prohibited  the  sale  of  whiskey  within  certain  limits 
of  the  same,  so  that  Prohibition  was  practically  accomplished  in 
most  of  the  country  districts.  In  1876  he  came  within  one  vote 
of  being  nominated  by  his  party  for  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

In  the  year  1877  he  was,  through  the  personal  influence  of 
Governor  Zebulon  Vance,  who  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of 
Mr.  Gudger's,  elected  principal  of  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf, 
Dumb  and  Blind  at  Raleigh,  which  position  he  occupied  with 
entire  satisfaction  for  six  years,  retiring  from  the  same  to  re-enter 
the  practice  of  law  at  Asheville,  North  Carolina.  In  1885  he 
was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from  the  counties  of  Buncombe 
and  Madison.  In  1886  he  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  at  Washington. 

In  1888  Mr.  Gudger  canvassed  the  entire  State  for  lieutenant- 
governor,  representing  Governor  Holt,  the  Democratic  nominee 
for  that  office,  who  was  confined  to  his  bed  almost  during  the 
entire  campaign  with  illness,  against  the  Republican  nominee, 
Judge  Jeter  C.  Pritchard,  and  it  was  a  campaign  that  will  be 
remembered  from  one  end  of  the  State  to  the  other  as  one  of  the 
niost  aggressive  of  its  kind  ever  known  in  the  State.    Mr.  Pritch- 


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128  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ard  and  Mr.  Gudger  were  warm  friends,  however,  and  their 
friendship,  dating  from  early  life,  continued  on  through  those 
stormy  days,  and  years  later  it  fell  to  Mr.  Gudger's  lot  to  champion 
his  friend  through  his  contest  for  re-election  to  the  senatorial 
chair,  and  this  he  did  with  an  ardor  that  brought  victory  out  of 
apparent  defeat.  His  great  fighting  qualities  were  admirably 
shown  in  this  race  when,  just  before  the  meeting  of  the  legis- 
lature, there  seemed  to  be  growing  an  opposition  to  Mr.  Pritchard 
that  bode  no  good.  Mr.  Gudger  threw  himself  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fight,  and  went  personally  into  almost  every  county  of  the 
State  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Pritchard,  and  gathered  the  strength 
needed  for  Mr.  Pritchard 's  re-election.  It  was  in  1893,  and  before 
the  above-mentioned  race,  that  Mr.  Gudger  was  appointed  judge 
of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Madison  County,  which  position  he 
resigned  to  accept  an  appointment  at  the  hands  of  President 
Cleveland  as  assistant  to  the  assistant  attorney-general  in  the 
Department  of  Justice  at  Washington. 

Mr.  Gudger  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  the  Odd 
Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  served  for  two  terms 
as  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Masons  in  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  and  as  such  rendered  many  decisions  on  Masonic 
jurisprudence  which  will  stand  as  a  monument  to  his  memory. 
He  has  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  Sunday-school  and  church 
work,  and  for  many  years  occupied  the  position  of  superintendent 
of  the  Methodist  Sunday-school  of  Central  Church  of  Asheville, 
at  that  time  the  largest  Sunday-school  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Conference. 

During  the  heated  discussion  on  the  financial  questions  in  the 
years  1895  and  1896,  Mr.  Gudger  was  an  advocate  of  "sound 
money,"  and  differing  from  his  party  on  that  question,  he  re- 
signed his  position  as  assistant  to  the  assistant  attorney-general 
and  re-entered  the  practice  of  law  at  Asheville.  He  had  deter- 
mined to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  his  profession.  How- 
ever, as  he  had  been  prominent  in  political  circles  in  the  State,  the 
newspapers  naturally  felt  that  he  was  a  proper  subject  for  criti- 
cism.   This  brought  him  to  the  front  in  his  own  defence ;  and  in 


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HEZEKIAH  ALEXANDER  GUDGER  129 

order  that  he  might  the  better  place  his  views  before  the  public, 
he  accepted  at  the  hands  of  the  Republican  convention  the  unani- 
mously tendered  position  of  elector  at  large  for  the  State  on  the 
McKinley  ticket.  He  canvassed  the  entire  State,  frequently  having 
joint  discussions,  and  made  what  is  generally  conceded  to  be  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  campaigns  ever  conducted  in  the  State  of 
North  Carolina. 

On  July  28,  1897,  he  was  appointed  by  President  McKinley  as 
United  States  Consul-General  to  Panama,  Republic  of  Colombia. 
During  his  occupation  of  this  position  Mr.  Gudger  has  seen  much 
of  South  American  life,  and  enough  of  South  American  revolu- 
tions to  satisfy  any  one.  It  has  been  his  lot  to  act  as  both  Minister 
and  Consul-General  at  the  place  named,  and  as  such  he  took  quite 
an  active  part  in  matters  connected  with  public  affairs. 

Those  most  familiar  with  Mr.  Gudger's  conduct  during  the 
trying  days  of  the  revolution  at  Panama  will  long  remember 
the  scenes  through  which  he  passed,  as  well  as  the  many  dangers 
that  attended  the  same;  and  likewise  how  well  and  satisfactorily 
he  discharged  the  onerous  duties  devolving  upon  him. 

It  was  through  his  intercession  that  compromise  after  compro- 
mise was  made ;  and  that  finally  the  revolution,  which  had  lasted 
for  more  than  three  years,  and  which  had  almost  completely  dev- 
astated ther  country,  was  brought  to  an  end.  Mr.  Gudger's 
action  in  these  particulars  is  of  historic  interest,  and  was 
eminently  beneficial  to  the  United  States  as  well  as  to  the  people 
of  Panama.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  through  all  these 
troubles  he  so  conducted  the  affairs  of  state  as  to  receive  the 
approval  of  his  superiors  in  Washington,  and  in  not  one  single 
instance  did  he  disappoint  their  expectations. 

Mr.  Gudger  has  always  been  a  firm  believer  in  the  Panama  route 
for  an  interoceanic  canal ;  and  in  1899,  when  the  public  mind  of 
the  United  States  was  directed  with  almost  unanimity  to  the 
Nicaraguan  route,  he  still  retained  faith  that  sooner  or  later  the 
United  States  would  take  hold  of  and  build  a  canal  on  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama. 

He  was  asked  to  deliver  an  address  on  the  subject  of  an  inter- 


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I30  NORTH  CAROLINA 

oceanic  canal  before  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
which  assembled  in  the  year  1899  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  that 
address,  which  was  delivered  October  24,  Mr.  Gudger  advocated 
strongly  the  Panama  route,  predicting  that  the  United  States  would 
finally  settle  down  to  that  as  what  he  conceived  to  be  not  only  the 
best,  but  really  the  only  practical  route  for  a  canal.  He  dwelt 
at  length  on  climatic  influences,  the  open  harbors,  the  paralleling 
of  the  route  by  the  Panama  Railroad,  the  amount  of  work  which 
has  been  accomplished,  and  the  further  fact  that  this  was  and 
had  been  for  hundreds  of  years  considered  as  the  natural  route 
from  New  York  to  California.  His  comparisons  between  the 
two  projected  highways  were  of  such  a  character  as  to  be  most 
convincing  to  all  persons  present. 

Naturally,  when  the  eyes  of  the  United  States  were  finally 
turned  to  the  Panama  route  and  the  Hay-Herran  Treaty  had  been 
refused  by  the  Colombian  Grovemment,  Mr.  Gudger  felt  depressed ; 
but  he  still  had  faith  that  something  would  occur  which  would 
open  up  the  way  for  the  completion  of  this  great  work,  and  he 
worked  toward  that  end  in  his  reports,  articles  for  the  press  and 
in  many  other  ways  that  came  to  his  hand.  He  had  been  a  close 
observer  of  public  sentiment  in  the  Department  of  Panama,  and 
was  not  greatly  surprised  when  the  revolution  occurred  and 
Panama  declared  herself  free  and  independent  of  the  mother 
country. 

At  this  critical  moment,  however,  Mr.  Gudger  was  at  his  home 
at  Asheville,  and  though  a  month  yet  remained  of  his  leave  of 
absence,  he  reported  at  once  to  Washington,  where,  after  receiv- 
ing personal  instructions  from  the  President,  he  was  sent  to  the 
Isthmus  on  the  President's  private  yacht,  the  U.  S.  S.  Mayflower. 
His  arrival  on  the  Isthmus  was  hailed  with  delight  by  the  Panama 
people ;  he  was  regarded  as  their  friend,  known  to  be  heartily  in 
favor  of  that  great  project  which  they  had  so  much  at  heart  (the 
building  of  the  Panama  Canal),  and  hundreds  met  him  at  the 
Panama  Railroad  station  to  greet  his  coming,  and  he  was  escorted 
to  his  consulate  by  the  military  band.  Mr.  Gudger  was  at  this 
time  the  central  American  figure  on  the  Isthmus,  and  as  his 


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HEZEKIAH  ALEXANDER  GUDGER  131 

country's  representative  he  conducted  the  relations  of  the  United 
States  with  the  new  Republic  of  Panama  without  a  hitch,  without 
one  particle  of  trouble,  delivering,  receiving  and  exchanging 
treaties  between  his  country  and  Panama  and  performing  the 
diplomatic  relations  devolving  upon  such  a  position  with  ease 
and  wisdom. 

He  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Canal 
Zone  on  February  24,  1905,  and  his  appointment  was  received 
with  hearty  approval  not  only  by  Americans  on  the  Isthmus,  but 
alike  by  Panamanians. 

Speaking  of  the  appointment,  Governor  George  Davis  remarked 
that  in  his  long  career  as  a  public  officer  he  had  never  known  of 
an  appointment  that  gave  more  genuine  satisfaction..  President 
Amador  of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  in  congratulating  Mr. 
Gudger,  stated  that  the  President  could  not  possibly  have  ap- 
pointed a  person  more  acceptable  to  the  people  of  the  Isthmus. 
Indeed,  this  was  the  general  consensus  of  public  sentiment. 

As  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  until  a  more  perfect 
organization  of  the  courts  is  affected,  Judge  Gudger  has  acted 
as  circuit  judge  for  the  three  circuits  of  the  Isthmus.  It  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  for  any  one  who  is  not  familiar  with  South 
American  jurisprudence  to  imagine  the  difficulties  which  must  be 
encountered  in  a  position  like  this.  While  the  criminal  code  is 
Americanized,  the  civil  code  which  governs  the  zone  is  the  same 
that  governed  it  before  the  concession  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment. Judge  Gudger  was  aided  very  greatly  in  discharging 
his  duties  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  he  reads,  writes  and  speaks 
the  Spanish  language,  and  by  reason  of  his  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  customs  and  ways  of  the  Spanish-speaking  people. 

The  condition  of  chaos  and  confusion  in  which  Mr.  Gudger 
found  the  affairs  of  the  courts  presented  a  difficult  task,  and 
required  a  great  deal  of  thought,  determination  and  energy  to 
put  in  motion  the  machinery  necessary  to  place  the  judiciary  on 
that  high  plane  which  it  should  occupy,  and  to  make  it  satisfactory 
to  those  who  were  interested  in  its  workings. 

Judge  Gudger  has  proved  himself  eminently  fitted   for  this 


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132  NORTH  CAROLINA 

task,  as  he  has  after  three  months'  service  shown  himself  capable 
of  giving  such  perfect  organization  to  every  branch  of  the  Judicial 
Department  as  to  inspire  the  confidence  of  all  intelligent  people, 
and  make  its  machinery  move  as  smoothly  as  though  it  had  been 
in  operation  for  years.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  thing  con- 
nected with  his  judicial  course  so  far  is,  that  his  decisions  rendered 
have  been  so  fair,  and  everybody  has  such  abiding  confidence  in 
his  honesty,  integrity  and  good  intentions,  that  not  a  single  appeal 
has  been  taken  from  any  decision  which  he  has  rendered. 

The  writer  of  this  article,  a  North  Carolinian,  proud  of  his 
State,  and  proud  of  the  great  men  of  his  State,  has  been  an 
observer  of  public  affairs  on  the  Isthmus  for  more  than  a  year, 
where  he  has  been  connected  largely  with  the  public  service ;  and 
it  is  with  great  pride  and  pleasure  that  he  is  able  to  state  that 
Judge  Gudger  has  the  entire  confidence  of  the  people,  had  their 
confidence  while  he  was  Consul-General  for  eight  years,  and  that 
his  conduct  as  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  has  strengthened  his 
hold  upon  the  public  mind  until  now  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
central  figures  of  the  Isthmus. 

We  predict  for  Mr.  Gudger  a  brilliant  career  in  his  new  and 
active  sphere  of  life.  He  is  not  only  a  well-trained  lawyer,  a 
profound  thinker,  an  eloquent-  advocate,  a  wonderfully  strong^ 
stimip  speaker,  but  with  all  he  possesses  that  conscientious  devo- 
tion to  duty  and  that  indomitable  energy  which  will  make  his 
career  in  the  judiciary  as  bright  as  has  been  his  life  for  the  past 
thirty  years. 

Well  may  North  Carolinians  feel  proud,  and  the  people  of  the 
entire  nation  be  glad,  that  such  a  man  belongs  to  the  public  service 
of  his  country. 

Mason  E.  Mitchell. 


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THB  HEW  yOPK 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ASTOH.  LCNOX  A"D 
TlLUt-K  FOVWDATICNS 


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LGIiKRT    BARRY    CORNWALT.    IIAMIUFV 


J  IE  subjcci  of  X\\\<  si  etch  lia^  IlivI  a  \ ;  •  .  r-'ii.   /k- 

able  aiul  suoctssful  t\.rcxr      He  is  a^:   1'*il;:i>!i- 

ninii    ^f   tlie   be^t    i^pr,  and   n> 'I    ii  ur    uf   ^^is 

i:'')iuitr\n:on   ba\c   >v''\\   iiMie  nf   tlio    ^\"ii..l   or 

iiia-le    bfUcT    use    ••!    tluir    oj-;)  'TMii.i;i.  >    t]i:«n 

I'-j^bert  liarry  ^.'nniwpll  Lla-i  M'*\.    IK-  \v.i>  1>.  irn 

iizanco.  Cornvv.tll.  riiL^lan.l.  May  2,  iSmj;  I'-tj  S(»'i  nt  J  in.^"^ 

Mbk'v  anrl  El'aMi   (Read)    JlaniMey.     JaTias  ]Ktinl-«\    Wc'S  a 

.1  t  :  L;i'ict  r,  au    \tiican  explorer  and  a  jT^'^'i*  IravclL-r;  v  i.v-d 

I'll  and  the  Ari;^  ntine  Rt^public,  and  contributed  nmch  bv  ]  is 

.  ^y  a. I'd  inrtuencc  in  In.ildinj:;  /.p  {:;;reat  en'orpri^CN  in  the  Timi  ^- 

.  ;  h^  \\:i^  a  man  of  niiich  culture  and  ind-  u'l^a^de  will,  cut  :^v 

iTvln.vtrv,  and  oi  threat  personal  c^uraco-     1  bo  Ila-nbb  \'  aT.il 

•-    I' mi'"' -s    ar«*   of    eld    aud    di>tin^^'n; '.''d    bncrij.;. ,    a:.!    *  .e 

Jbv   (.   it-«>f-nrn\s    is   tr-n-ed   ]fC\r\  as    fi^r  a^   tb.e   tli-rt  v-^-b 

'  ••/^v.     IdiP  IIam])iry  arms  on  a  srrJdd  Ari^cr.t  arc  I'lr*.*-  t.  'b  * 

>  .nt    *n  a  ti*  bl  of  .l:i{rc,  n.^iti)  uncb-rncidi  bciuL!  • 

;  .    •  rt   Manibkn'  in  b.is  cb.iblb  xm]  anil  v.>u*.hfiil   da\«:  r-v    •  •?'{ 


bcab!\  cUmI  \>as  fond  ^A  .ithb-!;c  sports,  anr] 


-1^ 


a- live  ati'l  .^tronp;.  and  lived  in  the  C'^vntrv.     Tic  \\a>  »■ 
!  ii'    J\'"evath  Ib:>'\se  ScIk-  1,  in  tli*?  count v  of  (Jor!u\rJI.  r 


d 


.  t 


!  attcn'bJ  the  Roval  S.!io(\  m  Mi;.cs  at   K-ji^^bi!.  t^Mi. 


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1  (iBr:RT    BARRY    CORN  WALT.    IIAMBLFA' 


HE  subject  of  thi'^  slctch  lia.>  hav!  a  \v">  r-ii:  :k- 
ablc  aiul  siKXi  ^^ful  career.  Ik  is  d'-  I''ii'.f:i>!t- 
luan  >A  tl^.e  best  t;p'',  and  ii' -t  niai.'  oi  h\s 
cn\:n{T\n,:'n  have  .-e^Mi  iM«>ie  of  tlu^  ••.••ill  or 
nia.ie  brilcr  use  '•t  tl.^ir  ())•;)• 'r»n::i:i<s  than 
I'^^bert  Harry  C>>rin\a;l  ihiii  ''i'-y.    ![<•  war  born 


cnz'.iucc.  Cornvval 


^lan<l,  May  2,  lS')j;  t'^e  spii  of    I  in 


Mbley  ancl  Ellon   (Read)    JIainbley.     ja'r.rs   IT,  in]»]e\    Wc. .-  a 

.1  i!  '^inetr,  an  .\fiican  expl  >rer  and  a  'Treat  traveler;  v-i. .d. 

i/il  jiwd  the  Ari;uuine  RepubHc,  and  coiitributod  much  bv  his 

.^y  aiid  infltiencc  in  building*  .:p  [^reat  cn<orprise=5  in  the  'I  r.u  s- 

.  ;  i:c  \va-  a  man  of  much  cnltnre  and  ind-  nnta'de  will,  cnci^y 

•T^'rj>(r\.  and  oi  i^reat  persv  tial  c^'irai^e.     Tlic  llambl^v  anil 

•  '  '.    i:.nv''*5.    ar<^    c^i    r>ld    and    di.>tin::^'n:\'-d    lincai-.,    af.rl    ^l.c 

■.!•'•   c<' il-t)f-a-ni.s    is   trncrd   ba«:k   as    far   as   tl^.e   tirrt'jtP'l: 

'  ".Ty,     'I'h'*  Harn])]cy  arms  on  a  sliirld  Ardent  arc  tlirco  t..Ib.  -^^ 

'.iMt     '•>  a  li' Id  of  A'.urCy  motto  nndcnuMth  b<M'i!L/' 

11  cc  yli^n  tricinir,i\sc  juz^iJit. 

.  .    •  :t   Maniblev  in  b.is  cbildliood  and  y.nitiifnl  da\<:  rri;.  -cd 

I  !.ca!;[\  ard  was  fon«l  •  t  a^h^'^'c  sports,  atu]   \  ;.v^ic.Jly 

;  ^  a-  .ive  and  rtroni'-,  and  lived  in  the  C'^"ntrv.     He  wa>  td'i- 

••  !  .tt    IVevith  Il'jnse  Sc1k»«'1,  in  tlic  con^Uy  of  (Jornwrdl,  and 

:'.  \.:d  attcn''Aj  the  Royal   SJ.iool   oi  Mii.os  at   K  jn<ui:;t^^n. 


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^■7 


b!-. 


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EGBERT    BARRY   CORNWALL    HAMBLEY 

[he  subject  of  this  sketch  has  had  a  very  remark- 
able and  successful  career.  He  is  an  English- 
man of  the  best  type,  and  not  many  of  his 
countrymen  have  seen  more  of  the  world  or 
made  better  use  of  their  opportunities  than 
Egbert  Barry  Cornwall  Hambley.  He  was  born 
in  Penzance,  Cornwall,  England,  May  2,  1862 ;  the  son  of  James 
Hambley  and  Ellen  (Read)  Hambley.  James  Hambley  was  a 
civil  engineer,  an  African  explorer  and  a  great  traveler;  visited 
Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  contributed  much  by  his 
energy  and  influence  in  building  up  great  enterprises  in  the  Trans- 
vaal ;  he  was  a  man  of  much  culture  and  indomitable  will,  energy 
and  industry,  and  of  great  personal  courage.  The  Hambley  and 
Read  families  are  of  old  and  distinguished  lineage,  and  the 
Hambley  coat-of-arms  is  traced  back  as  far  as  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  Hambley  arms  on  a  shield  Argent  are  three  talbots 
passant  on  a  field  of  Azure,  motto  underneath  being: 

Hctc  elim  metninisse  juvabit. 

Egbert  Hambley  in  his  childhood  and  youthful  days  enjoyed 
splendid  health,  and  was  fond  of  athletic  sports,  and  physically 
was  active  and  strong,  and  lived  in  the  country.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Trevath  House  School,  in  the  county  of  Cornwall,  and 
afterward  attended  the  Royal  School  of  Mines  at  Kensington. 


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134  NORTH  CAROLINA 

He  also  had  the  benefit  of  several  excellent  private  tutors.  He 
left  school  without  going  to  any  university  or  college  because, 
after  the  death  of  his  father,  he  had  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  head  of  the  family.  He  began  the  active  work  of  life  in  the 
city  of  London  in  1880.  His  education,  training  and  studies  had 
prepared  him  to  be  a  civil  and  mining  engineer.  He  was  also 
given  employment  in  various  places  in  England,  principally  in 
Devonshire  and  Cornwall.  He  completed  and  finished  up  his 
course  of  studies  while  employed  in  the  executive  departments  of 
various  large  corporations  in  London,  under  the  immediate  direc- 
tion and  supervision  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Truran,  who  for  forty  years 
was  the  head  executive  officer  of  many  old  and  important  com- 
panies doing  business  in  foreign  lands,  chiefly  mining. 

Mr.  Hambley  was  sent  to  North  Carolina  in  January,  1881,  and 
became  the  assistant  to  the  principal  of  the  Gold  Hill  Mines,  an 
English  corporation,  holding  that  position  for  three  years.  In 
1884  he  returned  to  England,  and  was  appointed  engineer  in  the 
firm  of  John  Taylor  &  Sons,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  noted 
engineering  firms  in  Great  Britain.  He  was  then  chosen  by 
Messrs.  John  Taylor  &  Sons  a  special  engineer  and  sent  to  India 
to  examine  and  report  upon  the  Indian  Gold  Mines  in  South 
India,  belonging  to  the  Indian  Gold  Mining  Company  of  Glasgow, 
a  company  created  under  the  auspices  of  the  old  City  of  Glasgow 
Bank.  He  remained  in  India  two  years,  and  during  that  time 
was  engaged  in  the  construction  of  several  mining  and  power 
plants.  Upon  his  return  to  England  in  1886,  he  was  sent  out 
to  examine  the  gold  mines  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  In  the 
interim,  being  very  fond  of  travel  and  adventure,  he  also  visited 
in  a  professional  way  almost  every  quarter  of  the  globe  where 
mining  was  carried  on,  spending  some  time  in  South  America, 
Mexico,  California,  Spain  and  Norway. 

He  also  visited  the  Transvaal,  and  after  returning  to  London, 
came  to  North  Carolina  again  in  1887.  During  the  period  from 
this  time  until  1898,  the  major  part  of  his  energies  was  directed 
toward  the  upbuilding  of  the  resources  of  North  Carolina,  and 
at  one  time  he  was  manager  and  consulting  engineer  to  eight 


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EGBERT  BARRY  CORNWALL  HAMBLEY  135 

English  companies  doing  business  in  North  Carolina.  During  this 
period  he  was  also  extensively  engaged  in  farming,  and  had  at 
Rockwell,  Rowan  Coimty,  one  of  the  most  valuable  herds  of  Jersey 
cattle  in  America;  and  during  the  same  period  he  became  per- 
manently identified  with  the  business  of  gold  mining  in  North 
Carolina,  and  was  instrumental  in  organizing  several  London 
companies  for  the  active  development  of  North  Carolina  mines, 
the  most  important  one  at  that  time  being  the  Sam  Christian 
Hydraulic  Company,  in  Montgomery  County,  of  which  he  was 
managing  director;  and  he  erected  at  the  Yadkin  River  a  very 
large  pumping  plant  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  water  to  the 
mines — 2,  500  horse-power  plant — forcing  water  four  miles 
through  a  20-inch  main  against  a  head  of  420  feet,  and  pumping 
3,000,000  gallons  of  water  every  twenty-four  hours.  He  was 
also  consulting  engineer  to  the  Appalachian  Company  and  Stanly 
Freehold.  He  has  been  interested  for  about  six  years  in  thfe 
development  of  gold  mines  in  Granville  County,  North  Carolina. 
He  has  also  had  considerable  interests  in  California. 

The  Whitney  Mine  at  Gold  Hill  and  the  Barringer  Mine  (in 
Stanly  Coimty)  he  is  operating  now,  and  has  been  for  several 
years,  either  as  president  of  the  Whitney  Company  or  as  the  active 
superintendent  and  manager.  He  promoted  and  started  the 
present  Salisbury  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Company.  He  has  been 
since  1886  a  director  of  the  Salisbury  Cotton  Mills,  the  largest 
and  most  successful  of  the  cotton  mills  of  Salisbury.  He  has 
been  a  director  of  the  Davis  and  Wiley  Bank  of  Salisbury  since 
1888,  and  is  now  vice-president  of  this  bank.  He  is  also  a  director 
of  the  Yadkin  Railroad  Company.  He  has  been  connected  and 
identified  with  the  banking  and  brokerage  firm  of  Whitney  & 
Stephenson  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  since  1898.  The  chief 
enterprises  to  which  he  has  given  his  attention  for  several  years 
past  are  the  development  of  the  Rowan  Granite  Quarry  and  of 
the  water-power  of  the  Yadkin  River,  near  the  famous  Narrows, 
about  thirty  miles  southeast  of  Salisbury.  These  vast  enterprises 
are  now  being  pushed  forward  under  the  personal  direction  of 
Mr.  Hamblcy,  and  will  soon  be  in  successful  operation.    Millions 


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136  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  dollars  are  being  expended  upon  these  plants.  It  is  proposed 
to  develop  about  27,000  horse-power  at  the  Narrows  of  the  Yadkin 
River  within  the  next  two  years.  The  company  which  is  behind 
these  enterprises  of  mining,  water-power  and  granite  development 
is  the  Whitney  Company,  with  the  following  officers:  George  I. 
Whitney,  president;  Francis  L.  Stephenson,  treasurer;  H.  L.  W. 
Hyde,  secretary — ^all  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania — ^and  Egbert 
B.  C.  Hambley  of  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  vice-president.  The 
development  of  these  enterprises  promises  to  bring  great  pros- 
perity to  the  people  of  a  dozen  or  more  North  Carolina  counties. 
The  completion  of  the  water-power  development  at  the  Narrows 
will  be  the  greatest  step  forward  in  an  industrial  way  that  North 
Carolina  has  ever  witnessed,  and  is  a  very  costly  and  stupendous 
undertaking. 

Mr.  Hambley  has  been  instrumental  in  bringing  into  North 
Carolina  not  less  than  six  millions  of  dollars  from  other  States 
and  foreign  countries,  to  say  nothing  of  what  is  now  being  done 
and  is  proposed  to  be  done  by  the  Whitney  Company  and  the 
following  companies  subsidiary  thereto :  The  Rowan  Granite  Com- 
pany, the  Yadkin  Land  Company,  the  Barringer  Gold  Mining 
Company,  the  Yadkin  River  Electric  Power  Company,  the  Yadkin 
Mines  Consolidated  Company  and  the  Yadkin  and  Virgilina 
Copper  and  Land  Company.  Mr.  Hambley  is  president  of  all  of 
these  companies. 

He  is  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  his  executive  capacity  is  very 
extraordinary.  Everything  he  does  in  the  way  of  business  is 
systematic,  careful,  sagacious  and  prudent.  Those  employed  by 
him  have  never  had  to  wait  a  day  for  their  wages,  and  no  one  em- 
ployed by  him  has  ever  failed  to  be  paid  every  cent  due  him. 
He  is  a  man  of  very  captivating,  persuasive  and  winning  manners, 
and  a  very  fine  conversationalist.  A  man  of  strong  friendships, 
he  loves  his  friends  and  they  love  him,  and  he  and  they  are  bound 
to  each  other  as  with  hooks  of  steel.  He  is  charitable  and  kind 
to  the  poor  and  needy.  He  has  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
delightful  homes  in  this  State,  and  the  hospitality  at  that  home 
is  unstinted  and  unbounded.     Mr.  Hambley  is  a  charming  and 


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EGBERT  BARRY    CORNWALL  HAMBLEY       137 

model  host,  and  those  who  have  been  entertained  at  his  home 
in  Salisbury,  at  his  Rockwell  country  seat,  at  the  Whitney  head- 
quarters near  Gold  Hill  or  on  the  Yadkin  River  will  never  cease 
to  remember  his  bountiful  hospitality  and  considerate  kindness, 
courtesy  and  attention  to  them  in  every  possible  way.  The  gentle- 
men who  are  associated  with  him  in  business  have  the  utmost 
confidence  in  his  business  skill  and  judgment,  and  their  affection 
for  him  could  not  be  greater  if  he  were  their  own  brother.  He 
has  been  more  successful  than  any  other  resident  of  the  State  in 
inducing  men  with  large  means  residing  elsewhere  to  make  invest- 
ments in  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Hambley  is  a  life  fellow  of  the  Geological  Society  of 
London,  having  been  elected  before  he  was  twenty-six  years  old, 
and  being  one  of  the  youngest  members  ever  elected.  He  is  fond 
of  reading  the  English  classics  and  scientific  works,  and  has  col- 
lected a  large  and  very  select  library.  He  loves  out-of-door  exer- 
cise, and  is  devoted  to  working  in  his  garden  and  to  playing  lawn 
tennis. 

His  own  wishes  and  personal  preference  determined  the  choice 
of  his  profession,  and  he  has  stated  that  he  values  most  the 
opportunities  he  had  early  in  life  of  being  brought  in  contact 
with  men  actively  engaged  in  the  development  and  upbuilding 
of  the  English  colonies. 

On  February  3,  1887,  Mr.  Hambley  was  married  to  Lottie 
Qark  Coleman,  daughter  of  Dr.  Littleton  William  Coleman  of 
Rockwell,  Rowan  County,  a  physician  of  great  popularity  and 
eminence.  His  wife's  grandmother  was  Lucy  Hawkins  Coleman, 
daughter  of  Governor  William  Hawkins,  and  wife  of  Dr.  Little- 
ton H.  Coleman  of  Warrenton,  North  Carolina,  to  whom  Andrew 
Jackson  wrote  the  celebrated  letter  on  the  eve  of  his  first  cam- 
paign for  the  Presidency,  in  1824.  The  Hawkins  family  is  one 
of  the  best  and  most  extensive  in  America,  and  Wheeler  says  that 
*'wherever  they  have  gone,  they  have  left  indelible  traces  of  genius, 
enterprise,  integ^ty  and  patriotism."  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hambley 
are  very  happily  married,  and  have  five  children — Littleton  Cole- 
man Fleming,  Gilbert  Foster,  William  Hawkins,  James  Young 


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138  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  Charlotte  Isabel.  Littleton  and  Gilbert  are  now  being  edu- 
cated at  the  Asheville  School,  having  spent  two  years  previously 
at  St.  Paul's,  Garden  City. 

As  an  example  to  young  men,  Mr.  Hambley  says  that  during 
his  career  from  time  to  time  he  met  with  many  obstacles,  and 
failed  to  accomplish  many  things  in  early  life  which  afterward 
were  surmounted  by  persistent  work,  energy  and  perseverance; 
and  being  asked  to  give  some  advice  to  young  people,  submitted 
the  following:  "Be  a  worker,  be  true,  apply  persistent  work  to 
every  undertaking,  no  matter  how  important  or  how  insignificant ; 
master  every  detail  in  connection  with  everything  you  undertake ; 
never  admit  failure ;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  failure  when  pitted 
against  constant  work  and  energy.  Be  true — ^true  to  yourself, 
true  to  your  friends,  true  to  God.  Be  charitable — never  be  guilty 
of  a  lie  under  any  circumstances  whatever.  Travel  if  you  have 
the  opportunity,  and  study  human  characteristics.  Acquire  a 
knowledge  of  the  methods,  rules  and  customs  of  society — the 
society  of  the  noble  and  rich,  the  society  of  the  masses  and  the 
society  of  good  people.  Distinguish  between  vanity  and  con- 
fidence, and  if  you  can  marry  well,  be  sure  and  do  so." 

Mr.  Hambley  was  bom  and  reared  in  an  English  home,  in  a 
family  of  culture,  elegance  and  refinement,  all  the  members  of 
which  belonged  to  the  Church  of  England. 

John  S.  Henderson. 


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PLEASANT   HENDERSON    HANES 

[lOGRAPHICAL  sketches  have  been  largely  con- 
fined to  literary  and  professional  men,  or  to  men 
who  have  particularly  distinguished  themselves 
in  public  service  to  their  State  and  nation,  but 
the  quiet  business  men,  whose  genius  and 
Midustrv  develop  tlie  business  life  and  energy  of 
wn*  or  who  improve  and  build  up  the  agriculuiral  interest  of 
fTiunitv,  have  not  been  properly  recpgnixed, 

Carolina  has  scores  of  business  men  who  deserve  to  be 

fd  in  history.      Her  heroes  of  jieace  have  equaled  her 

ar. 

L-ct  of  this  sketch  is  3  qiitct,  UlOMj^^^^'^ntsiness 
hsM^  made  a  lasting  repuiSkiiaffj^^^M  Uoti  an 

*  K^«od  on  ftb^iteiiiiess  ftitd^^^^^^l^Lil^  of  hU 


cot 


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PLEASANT   HENDERSON    HANES 


[lOGRAPHICAL  sketches  have  been  largely  con- 
fined to  literary  and  professional  men,  or  to  men 
who  have  particularly  distinguished  themselves 
in  public  service  to  their  State  and  nation,  but 
the  quiet  business  men,  whose  genius  and 
industry  develop  the  business  life  and  energy  of 
a  town,  or  who  improve  and  build  up  the  agricultural  interest  of 
a  community,  have  not  been  properly  recognized. 

North  Carolina  has  scores  of  business  men  who  deserve  to  be 
remembered  in  history.  Her  heroes  of  peace  have  equaled  her 
heroes  of  war. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  quiet,  thorough-going  business 
man,  who  has  made  a  lasting  reputation  and  set  in  motion  an 
influence  for  good  on  the  business  and  agricultural  life  of  his 
country. 

It  has  been  said  that  "Whoever  could  make  two  ears  of  com 
or  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  upon  a  spot  of  ground  where  only 
one  grew  before,  would  deserve  better  of  mankind,  and  do  more 
essential  service  to  his  country  than  the  whole  race  of  politicians 
put  together."  It  is  also  true  that  he  who  plans  and  provides 
to  employ  brain  and  muscle  not  only  adds  to  the  material  wealth 
of  a  country,  but  raises  the  standard  of  citizenship  and  lifts 
mankind  to  a  higher  and  better  civilization. 
Pleasant  Henderson  Hanes  was  bom  at  Fulton,  Davie  County, 


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I40  NORTH  CAROLINA 

North  Carolina,  October  i6,  1845,  ^ind  was  one  of  eleven  children, 
of  whom  only  two,  he  and  his  sister.  Miss  Kate  Hanes,  survive. 
He  comes  of  one  of  the  old  North  Carolina  families.  The  first 
of  his  ancestors  to  settle  in  the  State  was  Marcus  Hanes,  who 
came  from  Germany  and  lived  a  while  at  York,  Pennsylvania,  but 
in  1777  moved  to  North  Carolina  and  settled  on  South  Fork  of 
Muddy  Creek,  near  Salem.  This  ancestor  was  a  Moravian,  noted 
for  his  sterling  honesty,  practical  business  judgment  and  the 
close  application  to  duty  for  which  that  race  is  celebrated. 
His  son  Phillip  built  a  large  brick  house  near  Clemmonsville, 
which  is  now  one  hundred  and  three  years  old,  the  nails  in  which 
are  hand  made,  and  the  brick  bear  evidence  of  their  great  age 
by  the  various  hues,  that  proclaim  the  output  of  the  brick- 
makers  of  the  early  colonies.  Later  this  house  was  used  as  an 
inn,  and  has  long  been  one  of  the  well-known  landmarks  of 
this  section. 

Joseph  Hanes,  one  of  his  sons,  was  a  large  landowner,  planter 
and  slaveholder,  who  lived  in  the  village  of  Fulton,  on  the  Yadkin 
River,  where  he  instituted  a  number  of  other  industries,  employing 
his  slaves. 

The  old  church  and  burial  ground  at  this  place  still  commemo- 
rate the  Hanes  name.  He  was  succeeded  by  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Alexander  M.  Hanes,  the  eldest  and  the  father 
of  the  subject  of  this  article,  also  enjoyed  a  large  and  well-earned 
estate,  and  lived  in  the  cultured  and  prosperous,  although  seques- 
tered, village  of  Fulton,  built  and  for  the  greater  part  owned  by 
the  Hanes  family. 

Mrs.  Jane  March  Hanes,  the  daughter  of  Jacob  March  and  the 
mother  of  P.  H.  Hanes,  was  a  woman  of  remarkable  strength  of 
mind  and  character.  It  takes  a  great  mother  to  make  a  great  son ; 
not  necessarily  great  in  intellect,  nor  great  in  culture,  but  great 
in  character.  In  her  brain  and  heart  were  bom  the  germs  which 
took  form  and  developed  into  the  mind  and  heart  of  her  soiu 
With  such  a  mother  and  with  such  home  training  we  are  at  no 
loss  to  determine  where  P.  H.  Hanes  obtained  his  breadth  of 
mind  and  force  of  character,  for  in  him  were  reproduced  the 


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PLEASANT  HENDERSON  HANES  141 

characteristics  and  intellectual  qualities  of  his  noble  mother.  His 
early  life  was  spent  on  the  farm.  There  he  learned  industry  and 
the  value  of  money.  There  he  learned  that  some  measure  of  self- 
denial  is  an  invariable  condition  of  blessedness  in  human  life. 
There  he  learned  to  be  upright  and  self-respecting,  working  out  his 
destiny  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  loyal  to  his  State  and  country 
and  earnest  in  his  allegiance  wherever  it  rested. 

The  Civil  War  broke  out  while  he  was  young.  His  three  older 
brothers,  Jacob  H.,  George  A.  and  Spencer  J.,  volunteered  and 
went  to  the  army,  leaving  young  Hanes  to  manage  the  farm. 
Jacob  and  George  were  killed  in  the  battles  of  Spottsylvania  Court 
House  and  Gaines  Mill,  and  Spencer  received  a  wound  from  the 
effects  of  which  some  years  afterward  he  died.  The  fires  of 
patriotism  burned  so  warmly  in  young  Hanes*s  heart  that  he 
enlisted  as  first  lieutenant  in  the  Home  Guard,  and  did  splendid 
service  in  the  counties  of  Davie,  Yadkin,  Wilkes,  Surry  and 
Forsyth,  and  looked  after  the  farm.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he 
volunteered  and  went  to  the  army,  and  joined  Lee's  cavalry  near 
Richmond.  His  deportment,  promptness  and  faithfulness  to  duty 
won  General  Roberts's  admiration,  who  appointed  him  his  special 
courier.  Nothing  was  too  perilous  or  difficult  for  him  to  under- 
take if  his  commanding  officer  said,  go.  He  was  a  brave  and 
gallant  soldier,  and  remained  in  that  terrible  conflict  until  the 
surrender  at  Appomattox.  His  shrewd  business  management 
manifested  itself  in  the  hard  and  rigorous  camp  life  of  a  Confed- 
erate soldier.  He  always  kept  his  horse  sleek  and  fat  and  had 
something  to  eat  in  his  haversack.  Returning  from  the  war  with 
nothing  but  a  strong  arm  and  a  stout  heart,  he  commenced  to 
repair  the  losses  of  his  widowed  mother  and  to  build  his  own 
fortune.  He  had  no  educational  training  except  a  few  months 
in  a  country  school  and  what  he  could  find  time  to  learn  at  home. 
He  developed  rapidly  as  a  successful  farmer  and  trader.  He 
farmed  during  the  summer  and  bought  and  sold  tobacco  during 
the  winter.  His  restless  nature  could  not  long  be  kept  confined 
on  his  mother's  farm.  In  1870  he  was  employed  by  Dulin  &  Booe 
of  Mocksville  to  sell  tobacco.    At  that  time  railroads  were  few 


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142  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  far  between,  and  most  of  the  manufactured  tobacco  was  hauled 
to  Southern  markets  on  wagons.  In  those  pioneer  days  of  the 
tobacco  business  Mr.  Hanes  hardly  had  an  equal  as  a  salesman. 
The  firm  was  so  well  pleased  with  his  salesmanship  that  he  was 
the  next  year  taken  in  as  a  partner,  and  they  moved  their  head- 
quarters to  Winston. 

An  important  event  now  happened  in  his  life.  On  April  29, 
1873,  ^^  married  Miss  Mary  Lizora  Fortune  of  Marlin,  Texas,  a 
woman  of  deep  spirituality,  with  true  womanly  worth,  house- 
wifely thrift  and  domestic  skill.  Seven  children  have  been  bom 
to  them,  six  of  whom  are  living,  four  bright  and  attractive 
daughters — Misses  Katherine,  Margaret,  Frank  and  Ruth — two 
boys — P.  H.,  Jr.,  and  William  M. — who  give  promise  of  useful 
and  successful  careers. 

Mr.  Hanes  foresaw  there  was  a  great  future  in  the  tobacco 
business  and  resolved  to  move  to  Winston,  then  a  small  village 
with  a  taxable  property  of  less  than  $100,000.  Now  it  has  a 
taxable  property  of  over  $7,000,000,  and  is  the  largest  tobacco 
manufacturing  center  for  flat  goods  in  the  world.  In  1872  he 
organized  in  Winston  the  firm  of  P.  H.  Hanes  &  Company,  with 
his  brother,  J.  W.  Hanes,  and  Major  T.  J.  Brown  as  partners. 
They  commenced  the  manufacture  of  tobacco  in  a  two-story  build- 
ing 40  by  60  feet.  The  second  year  the  entire  building  and  stock 
were  destroyed  by  fire.  They  moved  to  Greensboro  and  worked  one 
year  while  the  factory  was  being  rebuilt.  Major  Brown  now  sold 
his  interest,  and  the  business  was  continued  uninterruptedly  by 
P.  H.,  J.  W.  and  B.  F.  Hanes.  Some  years  afterward  Mr.  B.  F. 
Hanes  withdrew  and  established  a  business  of  his  own,  leaving 
P.  H.  and  J.  W.  as  the  sole  owners  and  proprietors.  Never  did 
two  men  labor  more  earnestly  and  diligently,  and  never  was  suc- 
cess more  phenomenal.  Twice  having  been  burned  completely 
out,  they  only  redoubled  their  energies,  and  seemed  to  come  forth 
from  the  ruins  stronger  and  more  powerful  than  ever.  They  built 
up  a  business  the  fame  of  whose  brands  was  known  throughout 
the  entire  South,  and  whose  reputation  for  reliable  and  honorable 
dealing  was  equally  as  well  known.    In  1900,  when  the  business 


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PLEASANT  HENDERSON  HANES  143 

had  reached  a  capacity  of  5,000,000  pounds,  it  was  sold  to  the  R.  J. 
Re>Tiolds  Tobacco  Company. 

Mr.  Hanes  did  not  remain  idle,  but  began  at  once  seeking  new 
fields  for  the  investment  of  his  capital.  Without  any  previous 
knowledge  of  the  business,  he  equipped  and  is  running  successfully 
a  large  knitting  pAiU  for  the  manufacture  of  socks,  stockings  and 
underwear. 

He  is  vice-president  of  the  Security  Life  and  Annuity  Company 
of  Greensboro,  an  exceptionally  progressive  and  prosperous  insti- 
tution ;  he  is  president  of  the  United  States  Veneering  Company, 
which  lias  the  largest  woodworking  machine  in  the  world,  and 
will  doubtless  revolutionize  the  veneering  business;  he  is  also 
vice-president  of  the  Washington  Mills  of  Fries,  Virginia,  one 
of  the  largest  cotton  mills  in  the  South,  and  besides  these  interests, 
just  west  of  Winston  he  operates  one  of  the  most  extensive  and 
successful  stock,  dairy,  grain  and  tobacco  farms  in  Forsyth 
County.  This  latter  interest  he  values  chiefly  for  the  pleasure 
it  g^ves  him  in  developing  high  grade  stock  and  general  farm 
products,  though  it  has  proven  a  model  farm,  with  excellent 
financial  returns. 

In  religion  Mr.  Hanes  is  a  Methodist.  For  years  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Stewards  of  Centenary  Church,  and 
contributes  liberally  toward  its  support.  He  is  likewise  a  Pythian 
and  a  Mason,  being  a  member  of  the  Oasis  Temple  of  the  Mysiic 
Shrine. 

In  politics  he  is  a  staunch  Democrat,  and  has  always  been  ready 
to  give  his  time  and  means  for  the  success  of  his  party. 

Soon  after  moving  to  Winston  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  served  acceptably  in  that  capacity 
for  several  years.  He  was  progressive,  public-spirited,  and  with 
other  able  gentlemen  of  that  day  laid  wisely  and  well  the  founda- 
tion of  this  splendid  city.  He  was  on  the  committee  that  projected 
and  built  the  first  city  waterworks  and  graded  schools  of  Winston. 
While  he  has  always  taken  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs,  and 
has  kept  well  informed  on  public  men  and  measures,  he  has  never 
sought  public  oflSce.    In  1900  he  was  chosen  to  fill  out  an  unex- 


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144  NORTH  CAROLINA 

pired  term  as  chairman  of  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners, 
and  was  re-elected  the  following  term.  He  carried  into  that 
important  office  the  same  sound  judgment  and  executive  ability 
that  characterized  his  private  life.  He  knew  no  man  or  party 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  He  always  looked  to  the  best  inter- 
est of  his  county,  and  tried  to  get  the  best  results  with  the  people's 
money.  He  believed  real  economy  consisted  in  buying  the  best 
teams  and  tools  that  could  be  bought,  and  building  the  best  roads 
and  bridges  that  could  be  built.  Soon  after  he  was  inducted  into 
office  he  commenced  the  good  roads  movement,  purchased  a  com- 
plete outfit  for  road  building  and  started  the  work  in  earnest. 

Like  all  great  movements,  it  was  slow  and  expensive  at  first 
and  aroused  much  opposition.  In  this  great  work  Mr.  Hanes 
has  been  a  benefactor  to  Forsyth  County.  He  foresaw  that  the 
building  of  good  roads  from  the  field  of  production  to  the  center 
of  consumption  would  develop  both  the  town  and  the  county  as 
nothing  else  would  do.  He  had  the  courage  to  carry  forward, 
over  the  protest  of  many  of  the  people,  a  great  work  that  was  for 
the  public  good.  He  not  only  has  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  he  was  right,  but  permanent  road  building  through  his  un- 
tiring effort  became  a  fixed  policy  in  our  county  affairs.  His  work 
and  influence  in  this  respect  has  not  been  confined  to  Forsyth 
County.  He  is  president  of  the  Good  Roads  Association  of  North 
Carolina,  and  was  appointed  by  Governor  Aycock  as  a  delegate 
to  the  Good  Roads  Congresses  at  Buffalo,  Philadelphia  and 
St.  Louis. 

Mr.  Hanes  has  a  pleasing  personality,  is  of  medium  height, 
carries  himself  erect  and  moves  with  restless  energy,  full  of  busi- 
ness, quick,  ready  and  resourceful.  He  is  naturally  gentle  and 
kind,  but  when  aroused  is  bold  and  courageous.  He  has  a  keen 
insight  into  human  nature,  which  has  added  no  little  to  his  remark- 
able success  in  business.  In  the  sale  of  merchandise,  houses  or 
lands,  Mr.  Hanes  stands  among  the  foremost.  He  seems  to  know 
intuitively  when  to  buy  and  sell,  and  has  few  equals  in  a  trade. 
His  motto  is,  "What  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well." 
He  is  very  painstaking  and  careful  and  does  everything  in  the 


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PLEASANT  HENDERSON  HANES  14S 

most  improved  and  substantial  manner.  While  he  is  by  birth  and 
training  a  farmer,  and  is  one  of  the  most  practical  and  successful 
farmers  in  Forsyth  County,  he  is  also  a  wide-awake,  progressive 
business  man,  and  handles  large  business  propositions  with  great 
skill  and  ability.  He  has  an  indomitable  will.  He  believes  that 
there  is  a  "perennial  nobleness,  even  sacredness,  in  work.  There 
is  always  hope  for  a  man  that  actually  and  earnestly  works.  In 
idleness  alone  there  is  perpetual  despair.*'  He  has  great  faith  in 
a  young  man's  power  to  succeed  who  has  pluck  and  determination. 
He  believes  that  a  man  can  succeed  in  any  calling  who  has  the 
will  and  sticks  to  it,  and  who  learns  early  in  life  to  labor  and  to 
wait. 

P.  H.  Hanes's  remarkable  career  in  many  respects  is  wonhy 
of  study  and  emulation.  It  shows  what  can  be  accomplished  in 
life  with  industry  and  good  judgment  coupled  with  honesty, 
sobriety  and  economy. 

O.  B.  Eaton. 


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JOHN    WESLEY    HANES 


iOUN  WESLEY  HANES  was  born  in  the 
quaint,  quiet,  beautiful,  substantial  little  village 
of  Fulton,  Davie  County,  North  Carolina,  on 
the  3d  of  February,  1850,  and  was  the  sixth  son 
and  eighth  child  of  the  family  of  eleven  that 
blessed  the  union  of  Alexander  Martin  Hanes 
and  Jane  March  Hanes.  Alexander  was  the  son  of  Joseph  Hanes, 
who  was  bom  in  what  is  now  Forsyth  County,  February  2,  1784, 
and  died  in  Davie  County  July  27,  1847.  His  father,  Phillip 
Hanes,  and  his  grandfather,  Marcus  Hanes,  were  names  well 
known  in  the  history  of  the  earlier  days. 

Marcus  Hanes  was  a  native  of  Germany,  who,  having  heard 
much  of  the  New  World  across  the  sea  with  its  boundless  possi- 
bilities and  opportunities,  its  freedom  of  thought  and  action,  its 
fertile  fields  and  mighty  forests,  decided  to  find  a  new  "Father- 
land" in  America,  **the  half-brother  of  the  world."  In  the  rich  and 
inviting  York  County  of  Pennsylvania  he  established  for  himself 
and  family  an  abiding  place  and  a  home,  and  fondly  thought  that 
here  his  days  would  pass  in  comfort  and  in  peace.  But  across 
the  border  came  to  his  ears  wonderful  stories  of  a  fairer,  milder 
Southern  land,  and  he  heard  the  call  and  answered  it  by  coming- 
to  Carolina  in  the  year  1777. 

The  Moravian  settlement  there  had  particularly  attracted  him, 
as  he  was  of  that  faith,  and  he  located  in  South  Fork,  near  to 


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THE  NE^V  VCRK 
IIRLIC  LIBRARY 


PUBLIC 


ASTCV.  L^ 


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JOHN  WESLEY  HANES  i47 

old  Salem's  borders,  for  the  remainder  of  his  earthly  pil- 
grimage. 

Here,  too,  his  family  lived  until  the  grandson  was  attracted  by 
the  Yadkin  River  and  built  his  home  upon  its  banks. 

Alexander  Martin  Hanes  was  bom  March  5,  1809,  and  died 
April  25,  1861.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  also  conducted  a  tannery, 
which  was  the  largest  and  best  known  of  any  in  his  entire  section 
of  country.  He  was  a  man  of  wide  influence,  quiet,  unassuming, 
kind,  devoted  to  his  family  and  successful  in  all  the  affairs  of  life. 
His  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  September  26,  1833,  was  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Jacob  March,  who  was  bom  August  11,  1775, 
and  died  in  Davie  G>unty  on  December  30,  1831,  and  of  Margaret 
Hinkle  March,  who  was  bom  July  27 y  1775,  and  passed  to  the 
great  Beyond  March  2,  1831. 

The  March  family  were  also  from  Germany,  and  one  of  the 
four  brothers  who  came  over  had  settled  in  what  was  then  Rowan 
County,  early  in  colonial  times. 

The  family  through  all  the  years  of  our  history  has  been  one 
of  prominence  and  note. 

The  children  bom  to  Alexander  M.  and  Jane  Hanes  weVe 
Pauline,  who  did  not  live  to  womanhood ;  Spencer  J.,  who  received 
a  gunshot  wound  in  the  trenches  at  Richmond,  which  resulted 
in  his  death;  Mary  M.,  who  married  H.  X.  Dwire  in  1866  and 
who  died  in  1885;  Jacob  H.,  who  enlisted  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war  in  Company  G,  Fourth  Regiment,  North  Carolina  State 
troops,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Spottsylvania,  May  12,  1864 ; 
William  H.,  who  did  not  live  to  manhood;  George  A.,  who  en- 
listed in  Company  E.,  Forty-second  North  Carolina  Regiment, 
and  was  killed  near  Gaines  Mill,  Virginia;  Pleasant  H.,  who 
surrendered  with  Lee  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  who  is  still 
living;  Catherine  E.,  who  lives  in  Winston- Salem,  North  Caro- 
lina ;  John  W.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  died  September  22, 
1903 ;  Phillip,  who  died  March  14,  1903 ;  and  Benjamin  Franklin, 
who  died  August  24,  1904. 

As  a  boy,  John  Wesley  Hanes  was  sturdy,  vigorous  and  well 
devdoped,  accustomed  to  outdoor  exercise  and  work  on  the  farm. 


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148  NORTH  CAROLINA 

but  his  love  for  books  was  strong,  and  his  leisure  moments  were 
spent  in  reading  and  study.  He  was  only  a  child  when  the  war 
came  on,  but  additional  responsibilities  fell  upon  his  shoulders 
when  his  brothers  went  to  the  front. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  the  mother,  with  the  family,  re- 
moved to  Hickory  Hill,  on  Dutchman's  Creek,  near  Mocksville, 
and  here  the  boy  began  his  work.  After  the  war  he  attended 
Trinity  College,  and  proved  himself  to  be  a  careful,  successful  and 
enthusiastic  student. 

After  leaving  college  he  returned  to  the  farm  in  Davie  County. 
His  brother,  P.  H.  Hanes,  had  been  doing  a  remarkably  success- 
ful wagon  tobacco  trade,  and  had  been  induced  by  A.  M.  Booe,  a 
manufacturer  of  Mocksville,  to  join  his  energy  and  push  and 
experience  with  his  enterprise.  This  combination  prospered,  and 
John  took  his  brother's  teams  and  wagons  and  continued  the 
trading  in  which  P.  H.  Hanes  had  formerly  engaged.  But  rail- 
road facilities  were  lacking,  and  with  an  eye  to  the  future  the  two 
brothers  decided  to  manufacture  for  themselves  and  to  locate  in 
Winston-Salem. 

In  1872  they  began  in  a  small  way,  having  erected  a  factory 
here.  Major  T.  J.  Brown  soon  became  interested  with  them, 
and  later  Mr.  P.  N.  Dulin,  who  had  formerly  been  a  partner  with 
Mr.  Booe  at  Mocksville.  Unfortunately,  Mr.  Dulin  died,  and 
the  three  remaining  partners  were  obliged  to  settle  with  the  heirs, 
and,  cramped  for  means,  to  continue  as  best  they  could ;  and  just 
as  they  were  beginning  to  prosper,  in  the  second  year  of  their 
business,  their  factory  was  entirely  destroyed  by  fire.  The;'  wed 
considerable  money,  and  had  but  little  insurance,  and  the  future 
seemed  discouraging.  But  with  the  faith  and  energy  and  pluck 
so  characteristic  of  the  men,  they  bought  their  partner's  interest 
and  made  preparations  to  rebuild.  Meantime,  in  order  that  they 
might  continue  work  and  supply  their  trade,  they  rented  what 
was  known  as  the  Zeke  Jones  factory  in  Greensboro,  and  manu- 
factured tobacco  there  for  one  year  while  their  new  plant  was 
being  constructed.  Addition  after  addition  was  made  to  the  new 
plant  year  after  year  until  finally  this  factory  with  the  additions 


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JOHN  WESLEY  HANES  149 

was  outgrown.  Then  plans  were  made  for  one  of  the  largest  and 
best  and  most  modem  establishments  in  the  South.  This  factory 
was  carefully  constructed,  and  was  soon  occupied  and  filled  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  Just  as  everything  seemed  to  be  in  perfect  order, 
and  as  prosperity  seemed  to  be  smiling  upon  the  firm,  another  great 
fire,  in  1893,  originating  in  neighboring  property,  came,  bringing 
destruction  and  severe  financial  loss.  Just  as  had  been  the  case 
before,  a  larger  and  better  plant  was  the  final  result.  The  busi- 
ness continued  to  prosper  and  grow  until  the  firm  of  P.  H.  Hanes  & 
Company  was  known  throughout  the  United  States,  and  until  the 
volume  of  business  done  by  them  was  so  great  as  to  be  noted 
ever)rwhere.  Then  the  R.  J.  Reynolds  Tobacco  Company  nego- 
tiated for  and  purchased  the  Hanes  business,  paying  for  it  a 
princely  fortune. 

Mr.  P.  H.  Hanes  was  often  out  of  the  State  attending  to  the 
sales  and  the  salesmen,  but  Mr.  John  Hanes  was  constantly  at 
home  and  in  the  office  and  the  factory,  directing  with  a  clear  head 
and  a  strong,  active  hand. 

After  the  tobacco  business  had  been  sold,  instead  of  retiring  dr 
giving  his  time  only  to  looking  after  his  investments,  Mr.  Hanes 
at  once  began  to  look  about  him  for  some  new  field  of  activity 
and  work,  and  established  a  large  and  successful  plant  for  making 
hosiery,  which  he  christened  the  "Shamrock  Knitting  Mills,"  and 
to  this  work  he  gave  his  time  and  thought  and  energy  until  the 
summons  came. 

During  all  these  years  of  restless  activity,  hard  work  and  high 
tcn-"^''^'*,  Mr.  Hanes  had  been  deeply  interested  in  everything  con- 
nected with  the  growth  and  development  of  the  community, 
and  had  always  been  ready  to  do  his  part  in  public  affairs. 

He  had  served  a  number  of  times  as  president  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  held  this  position  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
For  years  he  had  been  a  member  of  its  executive  boards.  He  had 
served  as  president  of  the  Roanoke  and  Southern  Railroad,  as 
director  in  a  banking  institution  and  of  a  number  of  corporations. 

But  his  great  delight  and  comfort  and  happiness  was  in  his 
home.     He  had  been  happily  married  on  December  2,  1879,  to 


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ISO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Miss  Anna  Hodgin,  daughter  of  Stephen  H.  and  Lucy  Moir 
Hodgin  of  Winston-Salem,  and  eight  children  were  born  to  them, 
all  of  whom  are  still  living.  Mr.  Hanes  was  particularly  interested 
in  the  proper  education  and  development  of  his  boys  and  girls,  and 
spared  no  pains  or  expense  where  their  best  interests  were  at  stake. 

In  politics  Mr.  Hanes  was  a  Democrat,  but  he  was  liberal  and 
broad  in  thought  and  in  his  reading  and  devoted  to  his  State  and 
community.  He  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  deeply  interested  in  its  affairs. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  he  was  honest,  straightforward,  frank, 
manly,  plain  and  upright.  He  had  strong  convictions,  and  could 
be  depended  upon  to  express  them  and  live  up  to  them.  His  life 
was  a  successful  one,  his  character  a  fine  one,  his  nobility  and 
manhood  most  attractive  and  inspiring. 

The  resolutions  lovingly  prepared  by  his  associates  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  show  the  place  he  occupied  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  and  from  them  we  quote: 

^"Whereas,  John  W.  Hanes,  the  honored  president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  has  been  for  nearly  thirty  years  identified  with  the  important 
commercial  interests  of  this  city,  and  has  been  during  that  period  among 
the  foremost  leaders  in  the  inauguration,  expansion  and  growth  of  the 
various  enterprises  promulgated  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  the 
welfare  and  upbuilding  of  this  city;  and  whereas  he  has  manifested  the 
most  zealous  and  enthusiastic  devotion  to  whatever  concerned  the  vital 
interests  of  all  the  citizens  of  this  community ;  therefore,  be  it 

''Resolved,  That  we,  as  an  organization  composed  of  men  engaged  in  the 
various  activities  of  trade,  deem  it  not  only  proper  and  becoming,  but  also 
as  highly  incumbent  upon  us,  to  turn  away  for  a  while  from  our  daily 
employment,  to  contemplate  the  successful,  honorable  and  useful  career 
of  one  of  our  most  highly  esteemed  business  associates,  whose  life  has 
been  spent  in  almost  daily  contact  with  us  in  the  business  and  social 
relations  of  life. 

"Profoundly  conscious  of  the  value  to  a  city  of  a  man  highly  endowed 
with  business  sagacity,  reliable  and  prudent,  a  calm,  conservative  and 
yet  aggressive  public  spirit,  combined  with  unswerving  integrity  and  the 
sterling  qualities  of  a  consistent  Christian  character,  we  are  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  loss  and  bereavement  we  have  sustained  in  the  death  of 
our  presiding  officer,  our  business  associate  and  our  personal  friend — 
John  W.  Hanes. 


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JOHN  WESLEY  HANES 


151 


"Frank  and  unpretentious,  clear-headed,  vigorous  and  strong,  honest, 
upright  and  true,  having  been  honorable  as  well  as  successful  in  business, 
loyal  and  patriotic  in  his  citizenship,  pure  in  life  and  conduct  and  steadfast 
in  his  Christian  faith. 

"Resolved,  That  we  extend  to  his  family  our  sincere  sympathy  in  this 
time  of  grief  and  mourning  for  one  who  loved  them  so  tenderly  and 
devotedly. 

"Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  our  minutes,  that  a 
copy  be  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  that  copies  be  furnished 
to  the  city  newspapers  for  publication." 

William  A.  Blair. 


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CORNELIUS   HARNETT 


[HE  life  and  character  of  Cornelius  Harnett  have 
excited  the  admiration  of  all  who  have  studied 
his  career.  Bancroft  mentions  his  *'disinter- 
ested  zeal"  in  the  public  cau§e.  Frothingham 
calls  him  "the  foremost  actor  in  the  movement 
for  independence."  According  to  McRee,  he 
was  "the  representative  man  of  the  Cape  Fear."  Archibald 
Maclaine  Hooper,  whose  name  betrays  his  parentage,  writes  of 
him  as  ''the  favorite  of  the  Cape  Fear  and  the  idol  of  the  town 
of  Wilmington."  "He  was  incomparably  the  first  man  of  the 
Cape  Fear  country,"  writes  another,  "and  second  to  none  in  the 
State."  Governor  Swain  speaks  "of  his  lofty  and  disinterested 
patriotism."  Mr.  George  Davis,  himself  a  beloved  and  devoted 
son  of  the  Cape  Fear,  grows  eloquent  in  speaking  of  Harnett.  In 
an  address  on  "The  Early  Times  and  Men  of  the  Lower  Cape 
Fear,"  he  says :  "To  all  the  men  of  whom  I  have  spoken  history 
has  done  some  justice,  more  or  less  partial.  But  there  was  yet 
another  who  shone  like  a  star  in  the  early  troubles  of  the  State, 
of  pure  and  exalted  character,  of  unsurpassed  influence  with  his 
countrymen,  and  the  value  of  whose  services  was  equaled  only 
by  the  extent  of  his  sufferings  and  sacrifices  in  the  cause  of 
liberty.  ...  I  speak  of  Cornelius  Harnett,  the  pride  of  the 
Cape  Fear — 'the  Samuel  Adams  of  North  Carolina.' " 
These  expressions  of  eulogy  are  justified  not  only  by  his  services 


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CORNELIUS  HARNETT  153 

to  the  State,  but  by  the  confidence  and  admiration  in  which  he  was 
held  by  his  friends  and  associates,  and  by  the  fear  and  hatred  felt 
for  him  by  the  enemies  of  his  country.  The  former  manifested 
their  confidence  and  regard  in  every  possible  way.  They  elected 
him  to  almost  every  post  of  honor  thfey  had  to  bestow ;  they  fol- 
lowed him  in  the  perilous  path  of  civil  war  and  revolution;  they 
accepted  his  guidance  in  the  overthrow  of  one  form  of  government 
and  in  the  organization  of  another ;  and  never  once  did  they  waver 
in  their  support.  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  at  a  time 
when  that  colony  was  dominated  by  the  genius  of  Samuel  Adams, 
wrote  in  his  diary  that  Harnett  was  **the  Samuel  Adams  of  North 
Carolina."  Nor  were  the  enemies  of  American  independence 
unmindful  of  his  worth  and  influence.  Governor  Martin  marked 
him  down  as  one  of  the  four  men  in  the  colony  who,  "by  their 
unremitting  labors  to  promote  sedition  and  rebellion,"  placed 
themselves  ** foremost  among  the  patrons  of  revolt  and  anarchy." 
Sir  Henry  Qinton,  too,  left  a  record  of  his  estimate  of  Harnett's 
ability  and  influence  by  excepting  him,  together  with  Robert 
Howe,  from  his  proclamation  of  general  amnesty  in  May,  1776. 

Cornelius  Harnett  was  bom  April  20,  1723.  The  place  of  his 
birth  is  in  doubt.  There  seems  to  be  no  evidence  in  support  of 
McRee's  statement  that  he  was  born  "in  the  land  of  Sydney  and 
Hampden."  His  father,  a  Cornelius  Harnett  also,  had  been  living 
in  Chowan  County  for  a  year  at  least  before  the  birth  of  his  son. 
Harnett's  mother,  Mary  Holt,  was  a  North  Carolina  woman. 
Caswell,  writing  to  him  in  1777,  makes  reference  "to  the  county 
in  which  you  had  the  honor  to  draw  your  first  breath" — ^probably 
Chowan  County,  where  his  father  lived  at  the  time  of  the  birth 
of  the  son.  In  1726  the  elder  Harnett  moved  to  Brunswick.  Cor- 
nelius Harnett  had,  therefore,  the  good  fortune  of  growing  up 
with  the  Cape  Fear  settlement,  becoming  early  in  life  identified 
with  the  interests  of  its  people. 

Some  time  before  1750  Harnett  became  a  resident  of  Wilming- 
ton, where  he  lived  the  rest  of  his  life.  On  April  7th  of  that 
year  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Johnston  to  his  first  public 
oflicc — justice  of  the  peace  for  New  Hanover  County.    In  August 


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154  NORTH  CAROLINA 

he  was  elected  commissioner  for  the  town,  and  during  the  period 
from  1750  to  1 77 1  he  served  in  that  capacity  eleven  years,  though 
not  continuously.  It  was  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this 
office  that  he  first  displayed  his  capacity  for  more  important  ones 
and  won  his  way  into  the  hearts  of  his  people. 

Harnett's  first  call  to  broader  fields  came  in  the  year  1754,  when 
he  was  elected  to  represent  Wilmington  in  the  Colonial  Assembly. 
Twelve  other  Assemblies  were  elected  in  North  Carolina  under 
the  authority  of  the  Crown,  in  every  one  of  which  Harnett  sat  as 
a  member  for  Wilmington.  His  legislative  career  covered  a  period 
of  twenty-seven  years,  embracing  service  in  the  Colonial  Assembly, 
in  the  Provincial  conventions  and  in  the  Continental  Congress. 

To  write  an  account  of  Harnett's  services  in  the  Colonial 
Assembly  would  be  to  write  the  history  of  the  Assembly  from 
1754  to  1775.  There  were  few  committees  of  any  importance  on 
which  he  did  not  serve ;  few  measures  affecting  the  general  wel- 
fare about  which  he  was  not  consulted ;  few  debates  in  which  he 
was  not  heard  with  effect.  In  the  long  contests  between  the 
Assembly  and  the  governors  he  was  ever  the  uncompromising 
foe  to  the  encroachments  of  the  royal  prerogative. 

In  1765  William  Tryon  became  governor  of  North  Carolina. 
His  administration  was  distinguished  by  the  resistance  to  the 
Stamp  Act  on  the  Cape  Fear  and  the  insurrections  of  the  Regu- 
lators on  the  Eno.  In  the  former  Harnett  was  one  of  the  leaders 
who  successfully  defied  the  attempts  of  the  governor  to  enforce 
the  act  in  North  Carolina ;  in  the  latter  he  was  one  of  those  who 
upheld  the  governor's  hands  in  suppressing  the  disorders  in  the 
interior  of  the  province.  For  his  services  in  both  of  these  trying 
ordeals  he  received  the  thanks  and  appreciation  of  the  people. 

After  the  battle  of  Alamance  the  Assembly  voted  him  an  allow- 
ance of  "one  hundred  pounds  to  defray  the  extraordinary  ex- 
penses" he  incurred  in  that  campaign,  and  spread  upon  their 
journal  that  they  did  this  not  only  because  they  were  "convinced 
of  the  great  service  rendered  his  country  by  his  zeal  and  activity,** 
but  also  "in  consideration  of  his  not  having  been  in  any  office  or 
employment  from  which  he  could  possibly  derive  any  compen- 


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CORNELIUS  HARNETT  155 

sation  for  the  great  expense  he  was  at  in  that  expedition."  The 
Council  expressed  pleasure  at  the  attention  the  House  showed 
"to  the  merit  and  good  service  of  Mr.  Harnett." 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Alamance  Governor  Tryon  left  North 
Carolina  and  was  succeeded  by  Governor  Martin.  Martin's  ad- 
ministration opened  with  a  fight  over  the  Court  Law,  growing 
out  of  the  refusal  of  the  king  to  pass  any  law  containing  an 
attachment  clause.  British  merchants  carried  on  business  in  North 
Carolina  through  agents,  never  coming  here  themselves.  In  course 
of  time  many  of  them  came  to  be  large  landowners  in  the  province. 
In  order  to  secure  debts  owed  by  these  merchants  to  North  Caro- 
linians, the  Assembly  in  the  Tryon  Court  Law  inserted  a  clause 
empowering  the  colonial  courts  to  attach  this  property  to  secure 
those  debts.  The  British  merchants  objected  to  this  clause,  so 
the  king  instructed  Martin,  upon  the  expiration  of  the  law  passed 
during  Tryon's  administration,  to  see  that  it  was  not  inserted  in 
the  new  law.  Cornelius  Harnett  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  this 
fight.  He  was  a  member  of  the  committee  to  prepare  the  Superior 
Court  Bill,  and  chairman  of  the  committee  to  prepare  the  Inferior 
Court  Bill.  In  the  bills  reported  the  objectionable  clause  was 
inserted.  The  governor  refused  to  break  through  his  instruction. 
The  Assembly  was  stubborn  and  would  not  yield.  Session  after 
session  went  to  wreck  on  this  reef,  the  Assembly  declaring  that 
rather  than  lose  this  protection  they  would  prefer  to  be  without 
courts  altogether,  and  from  1773  to  1776  there  were  no  courts  for 
the  trial  of  civil  cases  in  North  Carolina.  The  governor  attempted 
to  create  courts  by  the  exercise  of  the  king's  prerogative,  but  the 
people  refused  to  honor  their  decrees  and  the  Assembly  declined 
to  vote  funds  for  their  maintenance.  Martin  was  thoroughly 
beaten,  because  the  people,  led  by  Cornelius  Harnett  and  his 
associates,  made  anarchy  tolerable.  The  dispute  was  never 
settled — ^but  finally  there  were  no  more  royal  governors  and  kings 
to  interfere. 

By  this  time  it  had  become  apparent  to  all  thoughtful  men  that 
it  was  necessary  to  devise  some  scheme  for  united  action  among 
the  various  colonies.    A  common  oppression  had  driven  them  to 


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156  NORTH  CAROLINA 

a  common  resistance.  Foresighted  men  began  to  lay  plans  to  meet 
this  necessity.  In  March  of  1773  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, visited  Wilmington.  He  left  an  interesting  account  of 
his  visit.  The  night  of  March  30th  he  spent  at  the  home  of 
Cornelius  Harnett,  whom  he  calls  the  Samuel  Adams  of  North 
Carolina,  "except  in  point  of  fortune."  Robert  Howe  also  was 
present.  They  spent  the  evening  discussing  the  plan  of  Conti- 
nental correspondence  promulgated  by  Virginia  and  Massachu- 
setts. Quincy  says  that  the  plan  was  "highly  relished,  much 
wished  for,  and  resolved  upon  as  proper  to  be  pursued."  Accord- 
ingly, at  the  next  session  of  the  Assembly  the  plan  was  submitted 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  agreed  to,  and  a  committee 
of  nine  persons  was  appointed  to  act  as  a  Committee  of  Corre- 
spondence for  North  Carolina.  Cornelius  Harnett  was  one  of  the 
members  of  the  committee.  This  was  the  most  important  step 
yet  taken  toward  revolution,  for,  as  Mr.  Fiske  says,  "it  was  noth- 
ing less  than  the  beginning  of  the  American  Union." 

Governor  Martin  was  not  pleased  with  the  attitude  assumed 
by  the  Assembly  in  the  disputes  with  the  royal  government,  and 
so  he  determined  not  to  convene  another  Assembly  until  the 
troubles  subsided.  Thereupon  the  people  took  the  matter  into 
their  own  hands  and  elected  a  Congress  without  the  authority  of 
the  governor.  This  convention  met  in  New-Bern  August  25,  1774. 
Among  its  most  important  actions  was  a  resolution  authorizing 
the  counties  and  towns  to  organize  committees  of  safety  for  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  the  resolves  of  the  provincial  convention 
and  of  the  Continental  Congress.  The  system  of  committees  was 
admirably  organized,  and  worked  so  successfully  that  their  powers 
were  gradually  enlarged  and  increased  until  they  assumed  a  juris- 
diction that  would  not  have  been  tolerated  in  the  royal  government. 

In  all  the  history  of  our  people  there  has  been  nothing  else  like 
these  committees.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  another  example 
of  government  which  touched  the  lives  of  the  people  so  closely 
as  they  did.  Bom  of  necessity,  originating  in  the  political  con- 
ditions of  the  time,  they  make  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters 
in  the  history  of  the  State.     Of  them  Colonel  Saunders  says: 


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CORNELIUS  HARNETT  157 

"Usurping  some  new  authority  every  day,  executive,  judicial  or 
legislative,  as  the  case  might  be,  their  powers  soon  became  prac- 
tically imlimited."  Governor  Martin  characterizes  them  as  "extra- 
ordinary tribunals."  In  every  respect  they  were  extraordinary, 
insurrectionary,  revolutionary.  Illegally  constituted,  they  de- 
manded and  executed  such  authority  as  the  royal  government 
had  never  dreamed  of,  and  received  such  dbedience  as  it  had  not 
dared  aspire  to.  Yet  not  only  did  they  not  abuse  their  power, 
but  voluntarily  resigned  it  when  the  public  welfare  no  longer 
needed  their  services.  They  were  the  offspring  of  misrule,  and 
rose  and  fell  with  their  parent. 

Of  all  the  committees  in  the  province,  the  Wilmington  and 
New  Hanover  committees  were  the  most  active  and  most  effective. 
When  the  Wilmington  Committee  was  organized,  Cornelius 
Harnett  was  unanimously  elected  chairman.  When  the  New 
Hanover  Committee  was  organized  a  few  months  later,  he  was 
unanimously  elected  its  first  chairman.  Of  both  these  committees 
he  was  the  master-spirit,  the  genius,  the  soul.  Their  work  was 
his  work.  Throughout  their  existence  he  dominated  their  actions, 
and  the  great  work  which  they  did  in  the  cause  of  freedom  is  his 
monument. 

The  Provincial  Congress,  in  the  fall  of  1775,  extended  the 
committee  system  by  organizing  the  Provincial  Council,  com- 
posed of  thirteen  persons,  one  chosen  from  the  province  at  large 
and  two  from  each  of  the  six  military  districts  into  which  the 
province  was  divided.  This  Council  was  the  chief  executive 
authority  in  the  province,  and  was  given  extensive  powers.  Among 
its  members  were  Samuel  Johnston,  Cornelius  Harnett,  Samuel 
Ashe,  Abner  Nash,  Thomas  Person,  Wiley  Jones  and  Samuel 
Spencer.  When  the  Council  met  to  elect  its  president,  as  Bancroft 
says,  "that  office  of  peril  and  power  was  bestowed  unanimously 
on  Cornelius  Harnett  of  New  Hanover,  whose  ^disinterested  zeal 
had  made  him  honored  as  the  Samuel  Adams  of  North  Carolina." 
By  virtue  of  this  office  Harnett  became  the  chief  executive  of  the 
new  government.  The  organization  of  this  central  committee 
with  adequate  powers  and  authority  immediately  bore  good  fruit. 


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158  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Governor  Martin  wrote  that  the  authority,  the  edicts  and  the 
ordinances  of  the  Congresses  and  conventions  and  committees  had 
become  supreme  and  omnipotent,  and  that  *iawful  government" 
was  annihilated.  Everywhere  the  spirits  and  activity  of  the 
patriots  took  on  new  life,  and  everywhere,  according  to  the  royal 
governor  himself,  the  spirits  of  the  Royalists  drooped  and  declined 
daily.  There  can  be  no  better  comment  upon  the  effectiveness  of 
the  administration  of  Harnett  and  his  colleagues. 

At  Halifax,  April  4,  1776,  the  fourth  Provincial  Congress  met. 
Cornelius  Harnett  was  the  member  from  Wilmington,  as  he  had 
been  of  the  second  and  third  conventions.  The  victory  at  Moore's 
Creek  Bridge  in  the  preceding  February  had  stirred  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  a  desire  for  independence,  and 
they  expected  this  convention  to  give  official  expression  to  the 
prevailing  desire.  Accordingly,  four  days  after  the  opening  of  the 
session,  a  committee,  of  which  Harnett  was  chairman,  and  Allen 
Jones,  Thomas  Burke,  Abner  Nash,  John  Kinchen,  Thomas  Per- 
son and  Thomas  Jones  were  members,  was  appointed  to  draft  a 
resolution  expressive  of  the  sense  of  the  convention.  Cornelius 
Harnett  was  the  author  of  this  resolution,  which  he  reported  for 
the  committee  on  April  12th.  After  a  long  and  spirited  preamble 
setting  forth  the  wrongs  committed  by  the  "British  Ministry" 
against  America,  the  following  resolution  was  recommended: 

"Resolved,  That  the  delegates  for  this  Colony  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress be  empowered  to  concur  with  the  delegates  of  the  other  Colonies 
in  declaring  Independency,  and  forming  foreign  alliances,  reserving  to 
this  Colony  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  forming  a  Constitution  and 
laws  for  this  Colony,  and  of  appointing  delegates  from  time  to  time 
(under  the  direction  of  the  general  representation  thereof)  to  meet  the 
delegates  of  the  other  Colonies  as  shall  be  hereafter  pointed  out." 

The  convention  unanimously  adopted  the  committee's  report. 
Comment  is  unnecessary.  The  time,  the  place,  the  occasion,  the 
actors,  the  action  itself,  tell  their  own  story.  Mr.  Bancroft  says : 
"The  American  Congress  needed  an  impulse  from  the  resolute 
spirit  of  some  colonial  convention,  and  the  example  of  a  govern- 
ment springing  wholly  from  the  people.  .    .    .  The  word  which 


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CORNELIUS  HARNETT  159 

South  Carolina  hesitated  to  pronounce  was  given  by  North  Caro- 
lina. That  colony,  proud  of  its  victory  over  domestic  enemies, 
and  roused  to  defiance  by  the  presence  of  Clinton,  the  British 
general,  in  one  of  their  rivers,  .  .  .  unanimously"  voted  for 
independence.  "North  Carolina  was  the  first  colony  to  vote  ex- 
plicit sanction  to  independence."  The  enemies  of  American  inde- 
pendence were  not  unmindful  of  the  part  taken  by  Cornelius 
Harnett  in  this  action.  Sir  Henry  Clinton  had  just  reached  the 
Cape  Fear,  too  late  to  co-operate  with  the  Highlanders  in  their 
disastrous  attempt  to  hold  the  province  for  the  Crown.  There 
was  nothing  left  for  him  to  do,  therefore,  but  to  issue  a  proclama- 
tion and  sail  away.  Accordingly  he  proclaimed  from  the  deck 
of  a  man-of-war  that  a  horrid  rebellion  existed  in  North  Carolina, 
but  that  in  the  name  of  his  majesty  he  now  offered  a  free  pardon 
to  all  who  would  acknowledge  the  error  of  their  way,  lay  down 
their  arms  and  return  to  their  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  "excepting 
only  from  the  benefits  of  such  pardon  Cornelius  Harnett  and 
Robert  Howes." 

In  the  winter  of  1776  the  fifth  and  last  Provincial  Congress  met 
at  Halifax.  Harnett  sat  for  Brunswick  County.  The  principal 
work  of  this  body  was  the  adoption  of  the  first  constitution  of 
North  Carolina.  Harnett  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
drafted  it,  and  exercised  a  large  influence  in  its  preparation.  He 
inspired  and  probably  wrote  that  imperishable  clause  which  for- 
bids the  establishment  of  a  State  church  in  North  Carolina,  and 
secures  forever  to  every  person  in  the  State  the  right  to  worship 
God  "according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience." 

This  convention  elected  the  first  officers  of  the  new  State. 
Richard  Caswell  was  elected  governor.  Harnett  was  chosen  first 
councillor  of  State.  By  the  election  of  Caswell  as  governor  the 
presidency  of  the  convention  became  vacant,  and  Harnett  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  journal  of  the  last  of  those  re- 
markable conventions  that  converted  North  Carolina  from  a  prov- 
ince of  the  British  Empire  into  a  free  American  State  is  signed 
by  "Cornelius  Harnett,  President." 

Harnett  was  re-elected  to  the  Council  of  State  by  the  first  legis- 


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i6o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

lature  that  met  under  the  constitution.  He  did  not  serve  long 
in  this  capacity,  as  he  was  soon  afterward  elected  a  delegate  to 
the  Continental  Congress,  and  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Council. 
He  took  this  action  reluctantly.  It  meant  loss  of  comfort  and 
ease,  sacrifice  of  both  money  and  health,  but  he  did  not  feel 
justified  in  declining  to  serve  the  State  at  her  bidding.  He  there- 
fore entered  upon  his  duties  in  June,  1777.  Harnett  was  in  the 
Continental  Congress  at  the  time  of  Washington's  Pennsylvania 
campaign,  and  was  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  the  great  diffi- 
culties under  which  Washington  was  laboring.  These  convinced 
him  of  the  necessity  of  a  stronger  union  among  the  colonies,  with 
some  central  power  having  sufficient  authority  to  force  the  States 
to  do  their  full  duty.  His  appeals  to  North  Carolina  through 
letters  to  his  friends  are  forcible  and  eloquent.  He  urged  the 
State  to  keep  her  battalions  well  filled.  He  insisted  that  taxes 
should  be  levied  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war  and  to  keep  up 
the  credit  of  the  State.  He  denounced  in  unmeasured  terms  the 
greed  of  those  who  were  taking  advantage  of  their  country's  mis- 
fortunes to  advance  the  prices  of  the  necessities  of  life,  and  urged 
that  the  Assembly  should  regulate  the  cost  of  at  least  such  com- 
modities as  the  army  needed.  He  warned  his  constituents  against 
the  folly  of  expecting  foreign  powers  to  win  independence  for 
them,  urging  them  to  depend  only  upon  their  own  patriotism  and 
virtue.  A  detailed  account  of  his  services  is  impossible  in  this 
sketch.  They  were  worthy  of  his  great  career.  The  field  was 
narrow,  however;  the  situation  disagreeable,  his  health  poor,  the 
expense  of  living  great.  He  wrote  to  his  friend  Burke  that  living 
in  Philadelphia  cost  him  £6000  more  than  his  salary,  but  adds : 
"Do  not  mention  this  complaint  to  any  person.  I  am  content  to 
sit  down  with  this  loss  and  much  more  if  my  country  requires  it." 
He  missed  the  comforts  of  home,  wearied  of  the  quarrels  and 
bickerings  of  Congress,  suffered  with  the  gout  until  he  was  thor- 
oughly worn  out. 

Finally  much  needed  relief  came.  In  February,  1780,  he  made 
his  last  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Wilmington,  "the  most 
fatiguing  and  most  disagreeable  any  old  fellow  ever  took."    He 


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CORNELIUS  HARNETT  i6i 

had  only  one  year  of  life  before  him,  a  year  of  gloom,  of  hardship 
and  of  suffering.  In  January,  1781,  Major  James  H.  Craig,  one 
of  the  most  energetic  officers  in  the  British  army,  took  possession 
of  Wilmington.  Harnett  was  the  first  victim  of  his  zeal  in  the 
royal  cause.  He  was  captured,  imprisoned  in  a  block-house  and 
treated  with  indignities  which  probably  hastened  his  death.  On 
April  28,  1781,  he  wrote  his  will,  bequeathing  his  entire  estate 
to  his  wife.    He  then  breathed  his  last. 

Harnett's  grave  is  in  the  northeast  comer  of  St.  James  Church- 
yard, in  the  city  of  Wilmington.  He  contributed  liberally  to  the 
erection  of  the  first  St.  James  Church;  for  a  long  time  was  a 
member  of  the  vestry,  and  always  retained  a  pew  in  the  church. 
In  spite  of  these  things  and  a  great  deal  of  other  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  a  tradition  has  come  down  to  us  that  Harnett  was  an 
infidel.  I  find  no  evidence  in  support  of  the  statement  and  much 
to  refute  it.  My  opinion,  after  careful  investigation,  is  that  the 
statement  is  erroneous.  Much  is  made  of  the  epitaph  on  his 
tomb,  said  to  have  been  selected  by  himself : 

"Cornelius  Harnett, 

Died  April  20,  1781, 

Age  58. 

'Slave  to  no  sect,  he  took  no  private  road, 

But  looked  through  Nature  up  to  Nature's  God.' " 

The  above  date  of  Harnett's  death  is  evidently  an  error.  His 
will,  in  his  own  handwriting,  is  preserved  in  the  court-house  at 
Wilmington.    It  is  dated  April  28,  1781. 

Harnett  lived  just  outside  of  Wilmington.  His  house,  sur- 
rounded by  a  grove  of  fine  oaks,  stood  on  an  eminence  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Cape  Fear,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  river. 
Here  Harnett  lived  at  ease,  entertaining  upon  such  a  scale  as  to 
win  a  reputation  for  hospitality  even  in  the  hospitable  Cape  Fear 
country. 

"His  stature,"  says  Hooper,  "was  about  five  feet  nine  inches.' 
In  his  person  he  was  rather  slender  than  stout.  .  .  .  His  coun- 
tenance was  pleasing,  and  his  figure,  though  not  commanding, 


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i62  NORTH  CAROLINA 

was  neither  inelegant  nor  ungraceful.  In  his  private  transactions 
he  was  guided  by  a  spirit  of  probity,  honor  and  liberality,  and  in 
his  political  career  he  was  animated  by  an  ardent  and  enlightened 
and  disinterested  zeal  for  liberty.  .  .  .  He  had  no  tinge  of  the 
visionary  or  of  the  fanatic  in  the  complexion  of  his  politics.  .  .  . 
That  he  sometimes  adopted  artifice  when  it  seemed  necessary  for 
the  attainment  of  his  purpose  may  be  admitted  with  little  impu- 
tation on  his  morals  and  without  disparagement  to  his  under- 
standing. His  general  course  of  action  in  public  life  was  marked 
by  boldness  and  decision." 

His  character  was  worthy  of  the  love  and  confidence  of  his 
friends ;  his  career  deserves  the  appreciation  of  a  grateful  people 

R.  D.  W.  Connor. 


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LOUIS    D.    HENRY 


tHOUGH  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  where  he  was 
born  in  1788,  Louis  D.  Henry  settled  in  North 
Carolina  about  the  time  he  became  of  age,  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the  latter 
State.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  in  the 
class  of  1809,  and  after  coming  to  North  Caro- 
lina studied  law  under  Edward  Graham,  an  eminent  practitioner 
of  that  profession  at  New-Bern. 

While  a  young  man,  Mr.  Henry  figured  in  a  duelling  tragedy 
with  Thomas  J.  Stanly  of  New-Bern.  Stanly  belonged  to  a  bril- 
liant and  spirited  family  whose  members  have  fought  more  duels 
than  any  other  race  of  men  who  ever  lived  in  North  Carolina.  The 
origin  of  the  Henry-Stanly  duel  was  trivial  in  the  extreme,  but 
brought  on  insults  which  resulted  in  the  usual  evil  recourse  of 
that  time.  In  a  magazine  article  in  Our  Liznng  and  Our  Dead 
for  January,  1875,  an  old  resident  of  New-Bern  says  of  this  affair: 
'*The  origin  of  the  difficulty  is  said  to  have  been  the  playful  toss 
by  Mr.  Stanly  of  a  piece  of  cake  across  the  table,  which  fell  into  a 
cup  of  tea  and  splashed  the  liquid  on  Mr.  Henry's  vest,  at  a  party 
given  by  Mr.  Gaston.  A  lady  at  the  side  of  Mr.  Henry  made  a 
thoughtless  remark,  which  aggravated  the  trifle  between  personal 
friends.  An  insult  was  imagined,  a  hasty  reply  given,  then  fol- 
lowed a  challenge  to  mortal  combat,  which  terminated  fatally. 
On  being  consulted  by  his  young  brother,  it  is  said  that  the 


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i64  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Hon.  John  Stanly  advised  the  hostile  meeting."  John  Stanly,  it 
will  be  remembered,  had  killed  Governor  Spaight  in  a  duel  not 
many  years  before.  The  duel  between  Mr.  Henry  and  Thomas 
Stanly  occurred  on  the  14th  of  February,  181 3,  that  being  Sunday, 
as  was  also  the  day  on  which  Governor  Spaight  was  mortally 
wounded.  The  second  of  Thomas  Stanly  was  George  E.  Badger, 
then  only  eighteen  years  old,  who  was  afterward  United  States 
senator,  secretary  of  the  navy,  etc.  The  Edenton  Gasette  of 
February  23,  1813,  fiercely  arraigned  the  participants  in  the 
Henry-Stanly  duel  in  an  account  of  the  affair  as  follows : 

"On  Sunday  afternoon,  the  14th  instant,  an  affair  of  honor  (as  it  is 
called)  took  place  over  the  Virginia  line  between  Mr.  Thomas  T.  Stanly 
and  Mr.  Louis  D.  Henry,  both  of  the  town  of  New-Bern,  which  proved 
fatal  at  the  first  fire.  Mr.  Stanly  having  received  his  antagonist's  ball 
in  the  right  side,  fell  and  instantly  expired.  We  understand  Mr.  George 
Badger  was  second  to  Mr.  Stanly,  Dr.  Scott  attending  physician  and 
Dr.  Boyd  second  and  physician  to  Mr.  Henry.  The  seconds  and  attend- 
ants of  these  deluded  young  men,  who  had  traveled  with  their  friends 
upwards  of  one  hundred  miles  to  decide  this  'point  of  honor,'  which  in 
all  human  probability  could  have  been  settled  in  an  amicable  and  honorable 
way,  as  soon  as  Mr.  Stanly  fell,  disgracefully  made  off,  leaving  the  corpse 
on  the  ground.  We  learn,  however,  that  from  some  intimation  given,  the 
body  was  soon  after  found  and  decently  interred  by  the  inhabitants  in  the 
neighborhood,  who  had  got  information  of  the  shocking  scene  a  few  min- 
utes  too  late  to  take  into  custody  the  honorable  survivor  and  still  more 
honorable  attendants.  Mr.  Henry,  we  learn,  was  the  challenger.  We 
trust  the  governor  of  Virginia,  whose  duty  it  is,  will  demand  of  the 
governor  of  this  State  the  above-named  gentlemen,  in  order  that  they  may 
be  brought  to  expiate  the  crime  of  which  they  stand  charged  by  their 
country  and  their  God." 

The  above  account  in  the  Edenton  Gazette,  written  by  James 
Wills,  the  editor  of  that  paper,  was  called  into  question  by  a 
correspondent  of  the  Raleigh  Minerva  shortly  thereafter,  who 
wrote  in  part  as  follows : 

"As  Mr.  Wills  does  not  pretend  to  be  informed  with  certainty  of  the 
circumstances  which  occasioned  the  meeting,  it  is  inconceivable  to  me  how 
he  could  presume  that  the  difference  might  'have  been  settled  in  an 
amicable  and  honorable  way."    Candor,  I  should  think,  would  have  pre- 


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LOUIS  D.  HENRY  165 

stuned  otherwise.  His  assertion  that  the  attendants  did  disgracefully 
abandon  the  body  of  Mr.  Stanly  I  am  fully  authorized  to  contradict — and 
to  declare  that  every  measure  was  taken  which  humanity  or  friendship 
could  dictate,  as  far  as  the  nature  of  the  case  would  admit,  to  insure  a 
speedy  and  proper  attention  to  the  remains  of  Mr.  Stanly." 

Mr.  Henry  was  not  prosecuted  for  the  death  of  Mr.  Stanly,  the 
courts  of  that  period  being  very  lenient  to  duellists;  but  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death  this  tragedy  of  his  youthful  days  was  ever 
a  blight  upon  his  peace  of  mind. 

Having  removed  from  New-Bern  to  Fayetteville,  Mr.  Henry 
at  once  gained  a  high  position  at  the  bar,  and  also  occasionally 
engaged  in  politics.  In  182 1  and  1822  he  was  elected  to  the  North 
Carolina  House  of  Commons,  and  in  the  same  body  was  borough 
representative  from  Fayetteville  at  the  sessions  of  1830,  1831  and 
1832.  At  the  session  last  named,  which  met  on  the  19th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1832,  he  was  elected  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

Mr.  Henry  declined  the  appointment  of  Minister  to  Belgium, 
which  was  tendered  him,  but  in  1837  accepted  an  appointment 
from  President  Van  Buren  as  commissioner  to  settle  claims  under 
treaty  with  Spain. 

On  the  loth  of  January,  1842,  the  Democratic  State  Convention 
nominated  Mr.  Henry  for  governor  of  North  Carolina  as  a  candi- 
date against  Governor  John  M.  Morehead,  who  was  standing 
for  re-election.  In  the  election,  which  took  place  on  the  4th  of 
August,  Morehead  was  victorious.  In  his  canvass  during  that 
campaign  Mr.  Henry  was  greatly  hampered  by  sickness. 

Henry's  next  political  service  was  as  Presidential  elector,  he 
being  a  delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention  which 
met  in  Baltimore  on  the  27th  of  May,  1844,  and  nominated 
James  K.  Polk  for  President. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1846,  the  Democratic  State  Convention 
met  in  Raleigh  and  nominated  Green  W.  Caldwell  for  governor. 
Over  that  gathering  Mr.  Henry  was  chosen  to  preside,  and  it  was 
his  last  public  service,  for  he  died  shortly  afterward,  June  13, 
1846,  at  his  home  in  Raleigh,  having  removed  to  the  Capital  City 
some  years  before. 


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i66 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


Possessed  of  a  clear,  sonorous  voice,  which  added  a  charm  to 
the  easy  flow  of  English  which  characterized  his  style,  Mr.  Henry 
was  surpassed  by  few  men  of  his  day  as  an  orator.  In  debate  he 
was  vigorous  and  spirited  even  to  the  point  of  fierceness  at  times. 

The  first  wife  of  Mr.  Henry  was  Lucy 'Hawkins,  daughter  of 
G)lonel  Philemon  Hawkins,  Jr.,  a  Revolutionary  patriot  of  Warren 
County.  This  lady  dying  without  issue,  Mr.  Henry  was  married 
secondly  to  Margaret  Haywood,  only  child  of  Adam  John  Hay- 
wood. The  gentleman  last  named  was  only  son  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Sherwood  Haywood  of  Edgecombe,  and  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  Major  Egbert  Haywood  of  Halifax  County. 

By  his  second  marriage  Mr.  Henry  had  quite  a  number  of 
children,  as  follows :  Louis  D.  Henry,  Jr.,  who  married  Virginia 
Massenburg;  Virginia  Henry,  who  married  Colonel  Duncan  IC 
MacRae ;  Caroline  Henry,  who  married  Colonel  John  H.  Manly ; 
Augusta  Henry,  who  married  Captain  Robert  P.  Waring;  Mar- 
garet Henry,  who  married  Colonel  Ed.  Graham  Haywood; 
Mar>'  Henry,  who  married  General  Matt.  P.  Taylor ;  and  Malvina 
Henry,  who  married  Douglas  Bell.  Through  these  children  Mr. 
Henry  has  numerous  descendants  now  living. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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'■^'E  NEW  YORK 


f'UBUC 


LIBRARY 


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V 


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WILLIAM   JACKSON    HICKS 

pHOSE  who  have  visited  that  noble  Masonic 
institution,  the  Oxford  Asylum,  and  who  re- 
member the  hundreds  of  fatherless  children 
there  provided  for,  will  also  recall  a  stalwart, 
gray-haired  gentleman  who  stands  in  loco 
parentis  to  all  the  juvenile  throng.  This  is 
Superintendent  William  J.  Hicks,  and  in  him  the  little  boys  and 
girls  of  the  institution  find  a  sympathetic  friend  and  counsellor, 
ready  at  all  times  to  follow  the  teachings  of  the  great  fraternity 
by  which  the  orphanage  was  established,  and  *'soothe  the  unhappy, 
to  sympathize  with  their  misfortunes,  to  compassionate  their 
miseries,  and  to  restore  peace  to  their  troubled  minds."  Few  men 
can  be  found  so  well  qualified  for  this  position  as  Colonel  Hicks, 
whose  kind  heart,  bright  disposition  and  years  of  personal  experi- 
ence with  hard  labor  and  the  serious  problems  of  life  render  him 
no  stranger  to  the  sunshine  and  shadows  of  the  little  lives  over 
which  he  exerts  so  great  an  influence  for  good. 

Though  a  resident  of  North  Carolina  for  more  than  a  half 
a  century,  Mr.  Hicks  is  a  native  of  Virginia,  having  been  bom 
in  Spottsylvania  County  of  that  State,  on  the  i8th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1827.  The  Hicks  family  is  of  English  stock.  The  earliest 
of  the  name  coming  to  America  was  Peter  Hicks,  who  was  bom 
in  England  in  1720,  but  in  early  manhood  settled  in  Virginia, 
where  his  son,  also  named  Peter,  was  bom.    The  latter,  like  his 


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i68  NORTH  CAROLINA 

father,  was  a  farmer  in  Spottsylvania  County,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  was  high  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  he  served  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  He  attained  a  great  age,  passing  away  in 
1844  niuch  venerated  in  his  community,  whose  esteem  he  had 
enjoyed  to  a  remarkable  degree.  His  son,  Martin  Hicks,  inherited 
the  good  will  and  respect  which  the  community  had  accorded  to 
his  father,  and  throughout  his  life  bore  an  unblemished  name. 
He,  too,  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  cultivated  a  farm  in  Spottsyl- 
vania, and  there,  when  twenty-four  years  of  age,  in  the  year  1813, 
he  brought  his  wife,  Nancy  Pendleton,  a  daughter  of  Robert 
Pendleton  of  the  same  county. 

But  Mrs.  Hicks  died  when  their  son,  William  J.  Hicks,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  only  three  years  old,  and  the  loss  to 
him  of  his  mother's  care  was  irreparable. 

In  his  early  youth  he  was  somewhat  delicate,  but  as  he  matured 
he  became  more  robust,  and  eventually  developed  into  a  man  of 
large  frame  and  fine  proportions,  becoming  a  splendid  specimen 
of  vigorous  manhood.  He  was  taught  the  rudiments  at  home, 
and  when  thirteen  years  of  age  he  entered  school,  but  his  studies 
were  soon  interrupted  by  the  long-continued  illness  of  his  father, 
which  led  to  his  being  detained  at  home  to  manage  the  farm ;  and 
until  he  was  twenty-one  he  continued  engaged  at  that  work.  About 
that  time  his  father  died,  and  then  he  began  life  on  his  own  account. 

As  his  educational  advantages  had  been  so  meager,  after  be- 
coming a  man  he  determined  to  improve  himself,  and  during  the 
winter  months,  when  his  work  was  interrupted,  he  attended  school, 
and  addressing  himself  with  resolution  to  his  studies,  he  gained 
the  elements  of  a  solid  education.  Indeed,  he  realized  so  thor- 
oughly the  importance  of  remedying  his  deficiency  in  this  respect 
that  he  applied  himself  closely  to  his  books  when  opportunities 
presented,  at  night  as  well  as  by  day,  and  he  often  kept  up  a 
friend  who  was  further  advanced  than  himself  until  one  and  two 
o'clock  at  night  to  aid  him  in  his  lessons.  Later  in  life  he  per- 
fected his  education  by  studying  and  consulting  such  books  as  bore 
on  his  special  work,  being  aided  in  his  endeavors  by  friends  who 
were  drawn  to  him  by  his  earnestness  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 


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WILLIAM  JACKSON  HICKS  169 

He  had  from  his  youth  up  been  fond  of  mechanical  works,  and 
even  in  childhood  had  displayed  ingenuity  in  making  tools  and 
fashioning  miniature  mills  and  such  other  contrivances;  and  so 
shortly  after  the  death  of  his  father  he  forsook  the  farm  and 
abandoned  agricultural  pursuits,  and  soon  became  engaged  in 
quarrying  stone  and  in  stone-cutting,  and  thus  obtained  an  experi- 
ence that  later  in  life  was  to  be  of  great  value  to  him.  He  also 
became  familiar  with  the  business  of  a  millwright  and  with 
carpentry.  His  strong,  active  mind  and  solid  powers  and  vigorous 
manhood  soon  made  him  proficient  in  these  various  arts,  and  he 
also  acquired  skill  as  a  first-class  machinist,  and  his  mechanical 
turn  found  an  ample  field  for  development.  His  judgment  and 
practical  sense  quickly  gained  him  an  enviable  reputation,  and 
he  became  known  as  a  workman  in  whom  every  confidence  could 
be  placed  for  thoroughness  and  carefulness.  In  1852  he  was 
employed  by  Smith,  Colby  &  Company  of  New  York  to  install  a 
mining  plant  for  the  McCuUock  Gold  Mine  in  Guilford  County, 
near  Greensboro,  and  for  two  years  he  remained  in  that  part  of 
North  Carolina.  Later  he  was  engaged  in  constructing  and  equip- 
ping the  paper  mill  on  Neuse  River,  at  the  Falls  of  Neuse,  near 
Raleigh,  and  he  was  so  much  pleased  with  Raleigh  that  he  deter- 
mined to  locate  there  permanently ;  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1858, 
he  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Julia  Louise  Harrison,  a  daughter 
of  John  R.  Harrison,  one  of  the  most  esteemed  citizens  of  Raleigh. 
On  the  completion  of  the  paper  mill  he  turned  his  attention  to 
housebuilding  as  a  contractor  and  builder,  and  his  wide  range  of 
experience  was  very  useful  to  him.  He  was  master  of  every  detail 
of  construction,  and  faithful  and  correct  in  all  his  dealings,  and 
his  work  always  gave  full  satisfaction. 

During  the  war  the  State  found  it  necessary  to  erect  a  powder 
mill  near  Raleigh,  and  the  competency  of  Colonel  Hicks  was  so 
apparent,  that  although  it  was  a  novel  business,  he  was  selected 
for  that  work,  and  did  it  most  satisfactorily,  and  then  he  was 
employed  as  superintendent  of  the  mill.  According  to  frequent 
and  repeated  tests  made  by  the  Ordnance  Bureau  at  the  arsenal 


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I70  NORTH  CAROLINA 

at  Fayetteville,  the  powder  made  at  that  mill  was  the  best  in  the 
service  of  the  Confederate  Government.  As  a  small-arm  powder 
it  was  very  superior,  and  its  uniform  strength  was  somewhat 
remarkable.  The  management  of  the  mill  and  the  manufacture  of 
the  powder  reflected  the  greatest  credit  on  Colonel  Hicks,  especially 
under  the  trying  circumstances  of  the  war. 

In  that  position  Colonel  Hicks  was  of  great  use  to  the  State 
and  to  the  Confederacy.  Careful  and  prudent,  a  man  of  excellent 
judgment,  he  managed  the  business  committed  to  his  care  with 
great  acceptability.  He  continued  in  this  work  until  the  mill  was 
destroyed  by  fire  by  the  Federal  Government. 

When  peace  came,  he  at  first  ventured  in  the  rosin  business, 
there  being  a  great  demand  for  that  article,  of  which  considerable 
quantities  were  to  be  found  where  there  had  been  former  dis- 
tilleries ;  but  soon  he  again  returned  to  the  occupation  of  a  con- 
tractor for  building  houses,  and  enjoyed  an  enviable  reputation 
in  that  line  of  work. 

In  1869  it  was  determined  by  the  State  to  erect  a  penitentiary 
building,  and  the  confidence  felt  in  Colonel  Hicks's  character  and 
his  skill  and  experience  led  to  his  selection  by  the  Board  of 
Directors  as  the  superintendent  and  assistant  architect  of  that 
work,  and  it  was  made  a  part  of  the  contract  for  its  construction 
that  he  should  have  that  connection  with  it,  and  no  work  was  to 
be  accepted  and  paid  for  without  his  approval.  It  was  felt  that 
his  name  would  be  a  sure  guarantee  for  fidelity  of  construction 
and  an  honorable  performance  of  all  contracts  and  agreements. 
The  location  near  Raleigh  being  determined  on,  ground  was  soon 
broken  for  the  building,  and  Colonel  Hicks's  judgment  was  relied 
on  almost  exclusively  for  the  details  of  plan  and  construction. 
He  performed  his  duties  so  satisfactorily,  that  when  there  was 
an  entire  change  of  administration,  the  Democrats  obtaining  con- 
trol of  the  Assembly,  Colonel  Hicks,  in  1872,  was  cordially  re- 
tained, and  the  General  Assembly  elected  him  warden  and  archi- 
tect, a  position  he  continued  to  hold  for  twenty-five  years,  the 
longest  consecutive  term  on  record  that  such  a  position  has  been 
filled  in  the  United  States.    He  discharged  all  of  his  duties  with 


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WILLIAM  JACKSON  HICKS  171 

fidelity  and  wisdom  and  was  a  most  useful  public  officer.  The 
penitentiary  building  is  an  immense  structure,  and  the  bricks  of 
which  it  is  built  were  manufactured  on  the  spot,  and  all  the  work 
possible  was  done  by  the  convicts  tmder  Colonel  Hicks's  direction. 
Its  construction  is  an  enduring  monument  of  his  skill  and  capacity. 
It  b  well  designed,  admirably  constructed,  and  was  built  at  a  very 
small  expense  to  the  people,  considering  its  great  dimensions  and 
the  permanency  of  the  structure.  Colonel  Hicks  also  built,  under 
the  plans  of  Mr.  Sloan,  the  Philadelphia  architect,  the  governor's 
mansion,  and  other  public  works  at  Raleigh ;  and  he  had  the  over- 
sight of  much  other  constructive  work  performed  by  the  convicts, 
and  he  directed  their  labor  within  the  enclosure,  and  to  some 
extent  supervised  their  work  when  employed  on  the  farms  and 
on  railroad  work.  His  connection  with  the  penitentiary  was 
indeed  most  important  and  of  great  benefit  to  the  State,  and  he 
ever  enjoyed  the  full  confidence  of  the  public  and  the  esteem  of 
all  who  had  dealings  with  him.  As  an  architect  and  builder  it 
may  be  said  that  he  has  had  no  equal  in  North  Carolina;  and 
he  was  often  consulted  with  advantage  in  regard  to  private  work, 
and  he  was  ever  interested  in  promoting  by  all  means  in  his  power 
such  new  undertakings  as  would  tend  to  the  advancement  of 
Raleigh. 

The  constructive  work  of  the  penitentiary  being  finished,  eventu- 
ally Colonel  Hicks  severed  his  connection  with  that  institution 
and  again  entered  upon  private  work,  going  into  partnership  with 
Mr.  Ellington  of  Raleigh ;  but  in  1898  he  became  superintendent 
of  the  Oxford  Orphan  Asylum.  He  was  ever  esteemed  one  of 
the  best  citizens  of  his  community,  having  the  development  of 
the  State  at  heart,  and  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  Agricultural 
Society,  and  was  interested  in  establishing  the  Raleigh  Savings 
Bank,  the  first  institution  of  that  kind  established  at  Raleigh, 
and  for  some  years  he  was  a  director  of  it. 

As  superintendent  of  the  asylum  he  has  been  as  successful  as 
in  the  other  avocations  in  which  he  was  engaged.  His  adminis- 
tration has  been  a  period  of  great  success,  although  it  should  be 
mentioned  that  his  own  good  work  has  been  effectively  supple- 


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172  NORTH  CAROLINA 

mented  by  that  of  a  corps  of  conscientious  teachers  and  others 
whose  aid  has  been  helpful  to  him.  In  passing  it  might  be  stated 
that  of  the  several  thousand  children  reared  within  the  walls  of 
the  orphanage  since  1872,  only  one  is  known  to  have  been  placed 
behind  bars  for  a  criminal  act.  Following  the  course  of  his 
predecessors,  Colonel  Hicks  has  sought  to  impress  upon  the  chil- 
dren of  the  institution  the  honor  and  benefit  of  plain  living,  regular 
habits,  fidelity  to  work  and  truthfulness,  and  the  good  effect  of 
his  precepts  and  his  personal  example  cannot  be  fully  estimated. 

In  his  religious  affiliations  Colonel  Hicks  is  a  Baptist,  and  his 
walk  in  life  has  ever  been  consistent  with  his  professions.  He  is 
prominent  as  a  Mason,  having  taken  the  three  Blue  Lodge  de- 
grees, followed  by  the  Scottish  Rite  degrees  up  to  the  thirty- 
second,  and  also  being  a  member  of  the  Chapter,  Council  and 
Commandery.  In  politics  he  has  ever  been  a  staunch  and  un- 
wavering Democrat,  has  never  failed  to  support  his  party  and 
has  never  changed  his  party  allegiance. 

Colonel  and  Mrs.  Hicks  have  had  eight  children  born  to  them, 
of  whom  four  are  living,  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  One  of 
the  sons,  W.  B.  Hicks,  is  living  in  Montgomery  County,  engaged 
in  manufacturing  enterprises ;  and  the  other,  John  M.  W.  Hicks, 
is  living  in  New  York,  being  treasurer  of  the  American  Tobacco 
Company,  having  recently  been  promoted  from  the  trusted  position 
of  auditor  for  the  same  corporation.  One  of  the  daughters, 
Elizabeth  W.  Hicks,  married  Mr.  W.  A.  Johnson,  and  is  now 
living  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania;  while  Miss  Bertha  M.  Hicks 
resides  with  her  parents. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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JACOB  FRANKLIN    HIGHSMITH 

[ACOB  FRANKLIN  HIGHSMITH  was  born 
in  the  county  of  Sampson,  North  Carolina,  on 
the  1st  day  of  September,  1868,  his  father  being 
John  J.  Highsmith  and  his  mother  Mary  Ann 
Highsmith,  John  Highsmith's  calling  being  that 
of  a  farmer. 
The  early  life  of  Jacob  F.  Highsmith,  a  lad  of  strong,  vigorous 
physique,  was  passed  in  the  country,  where  his  parents,  though 
well-to-do,  daily  impressed  upon  him  the  virtue  and  necessity  of 
industry,  and  he  was  not  exempt  from  the  manual  labor  of  the 
farm. 

John  J.  Highsmith  was  of  a  modest,  retiring  nature,  not  one  of 
the  men  who  "doth  protest  too  much,"  but  of  a  decided  character 
for  all  that.  He  taught  his  son  that  labor,  a  part  of  God's  plan, 
was  a  blessing  in  building  up  and  hardening  the  youthful  frame, 
confirming  the  physical  vitality  and  fitting  it  for  the  trials  of  a 
later  life.  "What  avail,"  he  would  say,  "to  educate  an  invalid? 
To  cram  the  head  with  knowledge  whilst  the  body  goes  to  waste  ?" 
Another  of  his  lessons  was  that  the  best  money  was  hard-earned 
money,  while  he  paid  justly  and  impartially  but  liberally  for  the 
chores  of  young  Jacob  on  the  farm.  The  best  line  to  him  in  the 
copy-book  thumbed  by  his  boy  at  school  was,  "Evil  communica- 
tions corrupt  good  manners,"  and  he  inexorably  forbade  his  son 
keeping  bad  company.    In  a  word,  this  Sampson  County  farmer 


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174  NORTH  CAROLINA 

recognized  his  first  duty  to  be  to  his  God,  and  for  the  rest  he 
was  a  faithful  husband,  a  kind,  wise,  just  father  and  a  good 
citizen,  and  among  his  fellow-men  his  character  was  without  a 
blot.  To  his  country  he  was  true,  for  he  was  a  loyal  Confederate 
soldier,  serving  well  for  the  four  years  of  the  war,  enlisting  in 
Company  A,  commanded  by  Captain  William  S.  DeVane,  Sixty- 
first  Regiment,  North  Carolina  troops. 

Though  at  all  times  obedient  and  respectful  to  paternal  author- 
ity, it  was  under  the  salutary  influence  of  his  mother  that  the- 
character  of  young  Highsmith  was  shaped  and  directed  for  a 
future  career  of  strenuous  and  beneficent  effort.  Leading  a  simple, 
homely  life,  far  removed  from  the  great  centers  of  population  and 
civilization,  Mrs.  Highsmith  was  a  woman  of  singular  force  of 
character — ^broad  minded,  full  of  the  charity  of  an  unquestioning 
Christian  faith,  and  gifted  with  that  sweet  optimism  which  "think- 
eth  no  evil,"  and  believes  that  God  orders  all  for  the  best.  She 
instilled  into  her  son  this  broad,  catholic  view  of  the  world  and 
human-kind,  and  at  the  same  time  grounded  him  in  the  lessons 
of  self-reliance.  Rude,  boisterous,  wayward  as  is  the  wont  of 
the  country  boy,  Jacob  Highsmith  was  of  a  deeply  s)mipathetic 
nature,  and  the  daily  contemplation  of  that  unostentatious  Chris- 
tian womanhood  sank  deeply  into  his  heart — ^a  germ  for  fruitage 
in  the  future.  J.  F.  Highsmith  conneqted  himself  with  the  Baptist 
Church  early  in  life — not  more  than  thirteen  or  fourteen  years 
old — ^too  early  to  have  gone  into  a  critical  analysis  of  doctrine, 
to  which  he  did  not  pretend;  but  even  in  the  acceptance  of  his 
creed  the  broadening  influence  of  his  mother  asserted  itself.  He 
is  no  straight-laced  denominationalist,  but,  as  he  sees  it  under  God, 
he  tries  to  keep  the  faith. 

Given  the  average  opportunities  and  advantages  of  instruction 
in  the  private  schools  of  the  neighborhood  and  county,  young 
Highsmith's  mind  early  turned  to  the  profession  for  which  he 
afterward  equipped  himself.  In  truth,  almost  from  his  childhood 
he  instinctively  turned  from  the  theoretical  view  of  education. 
He  wanted  to  learn,  because  in  learning  he  could  do  something, 
accomplish  something.    Riding  the  mules  to  water  or  feeding  the 


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JACOB  FRANKLIN  HIGHSMITH  17S 

stock,  the  thoughtful  lad  was  communing  with  nature,  watching 
its  life  and  death,  its  springing  up  and  dying  down.  He  himself 
believes  that  the  resolution  was  implanted  in  his  mind  to  become 
a  physician  on  the  day  when,  crossing  a  field,  he  found  a  sheep 
which  had  been  accidentally  staked  and  disembowelled.  His  heart 
was  touched  and  his  mettle  stirred  to  give  relief.  With  a 
needle  and  thread  he  sewed  up  the  wound,  administered  hot  coffee 
and  saved  the  sheep's  life.  With  pardonable  triumph  in  his  first 
piece  of  surgery,  he  said  to  himself,  "If  there  be  skill  in  this  hand 
and  sense  in  this  head  to  save  this  poor  beast,  what  may  I  not  do 
for  humanity  with  hand  trained  and  brain  taught?" 

His  academic  training  completed  at  Old  Salem  and  Glenwood 
academies  in  Sampson  and  Johnston  counties,  he  went  forward 
with  a  fixed  purpose  in  life,  took  the  medical  course  at  Wake 
Forest,  and  was  duly  graduated  from  Jefferson  Medical  College 
in  1889,  being  then  only  twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  has  since 
taken  full  post-graduate  courses  in  all  the  branches  of  surgery 
and  medicine. 

Dr.  Highsmith,  on  the  14th  of  November,  1889,  married  Miss 
Mary  Lou  White  of  Sampson  County,  very  soon  after  his  gradua- 
tion, and  they  have  had  seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  living. 

He  settled  in  Fayetteville  for  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
the  year  1889,  quite  a  young  man  to  carve  out  a  career  in  a  new 
field,  and  of  course  with  difficulties  confronting  him  at  every 
step.  But  difficulties  are  a  tonic  to  men  of  this  stamp.  Strong 
in  body  and  mind,  he  worked  hard,  and  in  the  meantime  his  prac- 
tice grew.  From  the  very  beginning  of  his  active  life  as  a 
physician  and  surgeon  he  realized  the  need  of  a  hospital  or  sani- 
tarium in  as  large  a  town  as  Fayetteville  with  a  tributary  country 
so  extensive.  Accordingly,  in  1899  the  Marsh-Highsmith  Hos- 
pital (the  partner  being  Dr.  J.  H.  Marsh)  was  built  on  the  comer 
of  Green  and  Old  streets,  a  handsome  three-story  brick  building. 
Afterward  Mrs.  W.  E.  Cochran,  a  wealthy  and  noble-hearted 
Northern  woman,  purchased  what  was  known  as  the  Robinson 
building  adjoining,  which  she  finally  deeded  to  the  proprietors  of 
the  hospital,  and  in  which  she  endowed  a  number  of  charity  cots. 


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176  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Dr.  J.  F.  Highsmith  is  now  the  sole  proprietor  and  general 
superintendent  of  the  Highsmith  Hospital  (its  present  name)  and 
the  Cochran  Annex.  The  institution,  under  his  direction  and 
supervision,  has  recently  been  greatly  beautified  and  improved 
on  the  exterior  and  interior,  with  all  modem  appliances  of  light- 
ing and  heating,  baths,  electric  call-bells,  telephone  service,  etc., 
while  its  surgical  and  medical  equipment  is  complete.  Great  care 
is  given  to  sanitation  and  household  service,  and  patients  speak 
in  high  terms  of  the  admirable  system. 

Perhaps  Dr.  Highsmith  has  nowhere  in  his  life  so  strikingly 
demonstrated  his  ability  both  as  a  surgeon  and  a  physician,  and 
at  the  same  time  his  high  administrative  capacity,  as  in  the  success 
which  he  has  achieved  in  this  hospital.  Fayetteville  people,  and 
indeed  those  of  all  the  surrounding  country,  regard  it  not  only  as 
a  necessity,  but  as  a  veritable  boon.  An  all-around  physician. 
Dr.  Highsmith  is  especially  skillful  in  surgery  and  the  diseases 
of  women,  and  the  most  difficult  cases  of  both  have  been  suc- 
cessfully treated  by  him  in  his  hospital.  He  is  efficiently  aided 
by  a  staff  of  carefully  trained  nurses,  who  are  under  firm  but  kind 
discipline,  and  who  are  hand  and  heart  in  their  work. 

Dr.  Jacob  Franklin  Highsmith  is  now  in  his  thirty-seventh 
year,  blessed  with  an  excellent  constitution,  with  not  only  a 
capacity,  but  a  love  for  work,  and  one  may  safely  say  that  this 
strong,  earnest  man,  much  as  he  has  already  accomplished,  is  but 
just  on  the  threshold  of  the  broad  arena  of  his  labors  for  humanity. 
Undemonstrative,  even  abrupt  in  manner,  he  has  warm  friends  on 
all  sides,  for  he  is  himself  so  faithful  in  his  friendships  that  he 
**knits  his  fellow-men  to  him  with  hooks  of  steel."  Many  of  his 
traits — ^his  self-reliance,  his  energy,  his  optimism — ^are  the  gifts 
of  his  heredity,  for  his  is  good  blood,  and  his  forbears  had  their 
share  in  making  the  history  of  their  country.  His  mother's 
mother  was  a  Parker  of  the  Revolutionary  Parkers,  so  highly 
spoken  of  in  the  notes  of  Lossing's  "Field  Book  of  the  Revolutbn." 

Dr.  Highsmith  is  a  Democrat,  though  in  no  sense  of  the  word 
a  politician,  and  his  politics  are  but  a  part  of  what  he  regards  as 
the  duties  of  his  citizenship.    He  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for 


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JACOB  FRANKLIN  HIGHSMITH  177 

office,  and  has  filled  no  position  not  in  line  with  his  profession. 
He  has  been  president  of  the  Cumberland  County  Medical  Society, 
and  is  now  councillor  of  District  No.  5,  in  accordance  with  the 
recent  division  of  North  Carolina  by  the  State  Medical  Society. 

His  private  life  is  a  happy  one  in  his  handsome,  comfortable 
home  on  Green  Street,  surrounded  by  his  family.  His  wife  is 
devoted  to  his  interests,  proud  of  his  career,  sympathetic  of  his 
ambitions  and  hopes  and  plans  for  the  future. 

Whatever  ability  may  be  lacking  to  the  pen  which  has  given 
the  above  modest  sketch,  the  choice  of  a  biographer  was  fortunate 
in  at  least  the  fact  that  perhaps  no  man  in  North  Carolina  knows 
Dr.  Highsmith  better  than  the  writer — ^has  studied  him  more  and 
has  gone  deeper  into  his  inner  nature.  His  extraordinary  energy, 
the  closeness  with  which  he  keeps  abreast  of  all  the  discoveries 
and  achievements  in  surgery  and  medicine,  and  his  careful  over- 
sight of  all  the  details  of  his  business,  are  noteworthy. 

But  the  biographer  would  say  at  last  that  the  secret  of  Dr. 
J.  F.  Highsmith's  success — and  he  has  been  very  successful — 
lies  in  his  absolute  devotion  to  his  profession,  his  iron,  unbreakable 
nerve  in  difficult  operations  and  critical  cases,  and  his  kindly, 
almost  womanly  sympathy  with  his  patient. 

Truly,  how  wonderful  is  science!  How  mightily  doth  it  move 
in  the  hands  of  a  strong  man  for  the  alleviation  of  humanity  I 
But  it  moves  under  an  all-wise  Creator,  who  guides  the  puny  hand 
of  man,  and  we  say,  "What  hath  God  wrought !" 

/.  H,  Myraver, 


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JOHN    HINTON 

,F  all  the  patriots  who  lived  in  Wake  County 
during  the  Revolution,  probably  the  most  dis- 
tinguished, both  as  a  soldier  and  statesman,  was 
Colonel  John  Hinton,  who  was  a  native  of  the 
precinct  of  Chowan,  where  his  father,  also 
named  John  Hinton,  resided,  his  home  being  in 
that  part  of  Chowan  which  is  now  Gates  County. 

It  was  about  the  year  1750  that  John  Hinton,.  then  in  the  prime 
vigor  of  manhood,  first  came  to  Johnston  County.  The  part  of 
Johnston  in  which  he  settled  was  severed  in  177 1  and  (with  parts 
of  the  counties  of  Orange  and  Cumberland)  erected  into  the 
county  of  Wake.  In  1768,  when  the  trouble  with  the  Regulators 
was  in  its  early  stages,  John  Hinton,  then  a  major  of  Johnston 
County  troops,  went  to  Hillsboro  to  confer  with  Governor  Tryon 
as  to  the  best  means  of  quieting  the  disturbances.  The  efforts  to 
quell  the  insurrection  by  peaceable  means  having  failed,  Trj'on 
raised  an  army  in  the  spring  of  1771,  and  after  scattering  the 
Regulators  at  the  battle  of  Alamance  on  May  i6th,  put  an  end  to 
the  revolt.  In  Tryon's  army  Hinton  was  one  of  the  most  trusted 
officers,  being  colonel  of  the  Wake  County  detachment,  and  he 
behaved  with  distinguished  bravery  in  the  battle. 

In  the  war  of  the  Revolution  Colonel  Hinton's  efforts  in  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  began  early.  He  represented  Wake  County 
in  the  second  independent  Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina, 


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JOHN  HINTON  179 


which  met  at  New- Bern  on  the  3d  of  April,  1775.  At  HiUsboro, 
in  the  following  August,  he  sat  in  another  Congress  of  like 
character.  On  September  9th  the  Hillsboro  Congress  elected  him 
colonel  of  the  troops  of  Wake  County  and  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  for  the  Hillsboro  District,  of  which  district  Wake 
formed  a  part.  In  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Halifax,  in  April, 
1776,  he  was  once  more  a  delegate.  He  was  also  a  justice  of  the 
Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions  for  Wake  County. 

At  the  battle  of  Moore's  Creek  Bridge,  on  February  27th,  1776, 
Colonel  Hinton  was  present,  and  there  the  same  courageous  spirit 
marked  his  conduct  as  at  Alamance. 

The  death  of  Colonel  Hinton  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1784. 
His  wife  was  Grizelle  Kimbrough,  and  by  her  he  left  many  de- 
scendants. In  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  (Durham,  North 
Carolina)  for  April,  1902,  there  is  an  accotmt  of  the  life  of  Colonel 
Hinton  written  by  Miss  Mary  Hilliard  Hinton,  one  of  his  de- 
scendants. In  that  sketch  will  be  found  many  interesting  inci- 
dents in  his  life  and  career,  an  account  of  his  family  and  also  a 
list  of  his  children.    Two  of  his  sons  were  Revolutionary  officers. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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JAMES   HUNTER 

^OLON  likened  the  people  to  the  sea  and  their 
orators  and  counsellors  to  the  winds,  for  the 
sea  would  be  calm  and  quiet  if  the  winds  did  not 
trouble  it.  The  illustration  is  none  the  less  happy 
because  it  may  be  turned  and  viewed  from 
another  side.  There  would  be  stagnation  and 
death  in  the  sea  were  it  not  troubled  by  the  winds.  So  there  would 
soon  be  the  torpidity  of  slavery  among  the  people  could  they  not 
be  aroused  to  action  by  their  orators.  Eternal  vigilance  is,  indeed, 
the  price  of  liberty,  and  the  abiding  place  of  that  liberty  is  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people.  So  much  so,  tliat  a  people  fit  to  be  free 
has  been  and  always  will  be  free.  Continuing  the  illustration, 
however,  as  there  are  great  tidal  movements  in  the  ocean,  inde- 
pendent of  winds  or  weather,  so  here  and  there  in  history  are  great 
popular  uprisings  not  induced  by  the  appeal  of  orators.  They  are 
caused  by  oppressive  or  disorderly  government,  and  come  not 
from  a  desire  to  attack,  but  from  an  impatience  of  suffering,  as 
Sully  said.  The  French  Revolution  and  the  present  stir  in  Russia 
are  instances.  In  a  representative  government,  whether  a  consti- 
tutional monarchy  or  a  republic,  they  have  never  occurred,  and, 
from  the  nature  of  things,  can  never  occur.  The  people  of  our 
own  country  have  never  been  aroused  to  determined  action  unless 
first  stirred  by  their  orators  and  organized  by  their  leaders.     A 


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JAMES  HUNTER  i8i 


free  people,  conscious  of  their  freedom,  are  inapt  to  see,  and  when 
seen,  not  prone  to  avenge  by  violence,  a  minor  infringement  of 
their  collective  rights,  sensitive  though  they  are  to  any  attack 
upon  their  private  rights.  It  is  the  province  of  orators  and  agi- 
tators, those  sentinels  upon  the  watch  towers  of  liberty,  to  warn 
the  people  of  any  approach  of  danger.  This  can  be  most  effectively 
done  by  a  broad  and  misleading  definition  of  their  rights,  an 
exaggerated  and  highly  colored  statement  of  their  wrongs,  and  by 
vehement  invectives  against  their  alleged  foes.  In  other  words, 
the  people  suffer  from  a  species  of  political  myopia,  and  things 
and  persons  and  events  must  be  magnified  that  they  may  see  the 
better.  Made  thus  to  believe  that  they  are  oppressed,  they,  nat- 
urally inert,  are  aroused  to  action,  not  from  an  impatience  of 
suffering,  but  from  a  desire  to  attack.  This  was  the  method  of 
Herman  Husbands,  the  agitator  and  organizer ;  of  Rednap  Howell, 
the  orator  and  bard ;  and  of  James  Hunter,  the  spokesman  of  the 
Regulators. 

It  was  not  a  new  method.  It  was  as  old  as  freedom  itself,  and 
we  see  it  exemplified  in  every  Presidential  election,  even  to  the 
present  day.  Only  the  omnipresence  of  the  law  and  its  restraints, 
and  the  greater  sensitiveness  of  the  people  to  these  restraints,  pre- 
vent each  hard-fought  campaign  from  becoming  a  series  of  bloody 
riots,  if  not  a  civil  war.  The  absence  of  these  restraints,  or  their 
effectiveness,  made  the  Regulator  movement  culminate  in  the 
Hillsboro  riot  and  the  battle  of  Alamance. 

In  these  movements  it  is  the  office  of  the  agitator  and  orator 
to  stimulate  action,  and  of  the  leader  to  organize,  guide  and  con- 
trol the  strength  of  the  people  so  that  it  may  become  effective  in 
action.  In  this  sense  the  Regulators  had  no  leader.  Herman 
Husbands,  the  ablest  of  them,  was  a  great  agitator  and  an  excellent 
organizer.  But  there  he  stopped  short.  He  lacked  the  bold  deter- 
mination and  dauntless  courage  required  of  the  leader  of  the 
people  in  such  a  crisis.  Rednap  Howell,  the  orator  and  bard  of 
the  movement,  was  an  active,  energetic,  shrewd  agitator.  But 
there  he  stopped  short.  He  had  neither  the  ability  of  an  organizer 
nor  the  courage  of  a  leader.    James  Hunter  was  intelligent,  honest 


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i82  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  intrepid,  but  in  the  rare  qualities  necessary  to  manage  and 
control  bodies  of  unruly  men  he  was  wholly  deficient. 

He  came  of  excellent  stock — ^an  English  family  transferred  to 
the  north  of  Ireland  after  the  conquest  of  that  kingdom  by  Crom- 
well. The  progenitor  of  the  North  Carolina  Hunters  migrated  to 
a  Northern  colony,  probably  New  Jersey,  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Some  years  later  he  removed  to  Virginia.  In 
that  province  James  Hunter,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  bom, 
April  8,  1740.  His  father  bore  the  same  name  as  himself,  and 
his  mother  was  an  aunt  of  Alexander  and  James  Martin.  He  was 
the  eldest  of  nine  children.  His  youth  was  spent  in  labor  upon 
the  farm  and  in  attendance  upon  a  neighboring  school.  He  was 
verging  upon  manhood  when  his  father  removed  to  the  western 
part  of  Orange  County,  North  Carolina.  The  location  is  now 
in  Rockingham  County.  There,  among  the  hills  of  the  Dan, 
the  young  fellow  grew  to  the  full  stature  of  manhood.  He  married 
Miss  MacFarland,  and  by  her  had  a  large  family.  He  was  among 
the  first  to  become  actively  interested  in  the  agitation  against  the 
county  officials.  The  people  had  just  grievances  unquestionably, 
but  none  of  them  amounted  to  positive  oppression.  The  police 
power  of  the  State  that  now  hedges  us  about  on  every  side  was 
scarcely  felt  then,  and  the  paternal  power  of  the  State,  that  is 
now  more  and  more  asserting  itself,  was  then  a  negligible  quantity. 
The  only  taxes  they  had  to  pay  was  about  $1.75  on  each  poll.  In 
the  same  territory  we  now  pay  $2.87  on  the  poll  and  92  3/5  cents 
on  each  $100  worth  of  property.  They  paid  Fanning  about 
80  cents  for  recording  a  deed;  we  pay  from  $1  to  $1.50.  For 
the  probate  of  the  same  deed  they  paid  45  cents  and  we  25  to  50 
cents,  etc.  Still,  there  is  no  doubt  that  things  were  at  loose  ends 
then  and  required  mending. 

Hunter  soon  became  prominent  in  the  councils  of  the  Regu- 
lators. He  went  with  Rednap  Howell  to  Brunswick,  and  pre- 
sented their  celebrated  petition  to  Governor  Tryon  in  June,  1768. 
He  bore  himself  with  firmness  and  courage  in  the  difficult  under- 
taking. He  presented  the  petition  intended  for  Chief  Justice 
Howard  to  Judge  Henderson  at  the  opening  of  the  fateful  court 


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JAMES  HUNTER  183 


at  Hillsboro,  September  22,  1770,  and  during  the  disgraceful 
scene  that  was  enacted  on  the  following  Monday  he  protected 
the  person  of  the  judge  from  outrage. 

He  had  been  active  in  trying  to  bring  the  officials  to  justice, 
had  gone  to  the  Salisbury  Superior  Court  in  September,  1769, 
and  had  pressed  upon  the  grand  jury  indictment  after  indictment 
against  John  Frohock,  clerk  of  the  court,  only  to  have  them 
ignored.  He  had  sued  Edmund  Fanning  in  the  Hillsboro  Superior 
Court,  and  a  jury  had  decided  against  him  at  the  March  term, 
1770.  So  firmly  convinced  was  he  of  the  justice  of  his  cause 
that  he  was  sure  that  these  miscarriages  could  have  happened 
only  by  the  corruption  of  the  court  and  jury.  Leg^l  remedies,  it 
appeared  to  him,  had  been  exhausted,  and  he  and  those  acting 
with  him  were  justified  in  resorting  to  extra-legal  redress.  When 
his  followers,  then  breaking  beyond  control,  wreaked  their  ven- 
geance upon  obnoxious  officials,  he  no  doubt  observed  it  all  with 
grim  satisfaction.  He  was  among  those  indicted  at  New-Bern  for 
his  participation  in  the  riot.  He,  though  there,  seems  not  to  have 
been  prominent  at  the  battle  of  Alamance.  Indeed,  according 
to  Caruthers,  he  refused  to  command,  saying,  "We  are  all  free 
men  and  every  man  must  command  himself."  After  the  battle, 
he,  an  outlaw  with  a  price  upon  his  head,  made  his  escape,  and 
was  in  hiding,  probably  in  Western  Maryland,  for  ten  months. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  he  returned  home,  rented  out  his  old  place, 
entered  a  piece  of  land  adjoining  that  and  took  up  his  abode  there. 
He  was  never  formally  pardoned,  but  events  moving  rapidly  on 
to  the  Revolution  caused  him  to  be  courted  by  both  sides — ^by  his 
old  enemies,  who  are  nearly  all  Whigs,  and  by  his  new  friend. 
Governor  Martin.  At  first  he  certainly  inclined  to  the  side  of  the 
latter.  In  1776  he  was  arrested  by  the  Whigs  as  a  disaflfected 
person,  and  in  May  of  that  year  he  was  paroled  by  the  Provincial 
Congress  to  Bute  County.  In  August,  however,  he  had  returned 
to  Guilford  County,  and  was  ordered  arrested  by  the  committee 
of  that  county.  This  arrest  he  avoided,  and  appeared  before  the 
Coimcil  of  Safety  at  Salisbury,  September  6,  1776,  and  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  State.    Thereafter  he  was  a  loyal  Whig 


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i84  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  a  useful,  efficient  patriot.  He  represented  Guilford  County 
in  the  House  of  Commons  from  1778  to  1782,  both  inclusive,  and 
later  was  sheriff  and  treasurer  of  that  county.  He  also  presided 
in  its  county  courts  until  Rockingham  County  was  created  in  1785. 
He  is  said  also  to  have  been  a  major  in  the  county  militia  and  to 
have  fought  well  at  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House  agaitist 
his  old  confrere,  William  Butler. 

He  died  in  1820,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  products  of  his  period  and  environment. 
He  was  honest  in  intention  and  act,  pure  in  his  living,  bold,  deter- 
mined and  dauntless  in  the  midst  of  danger,  plain,  direct  in  his 
thought  and  utterance,  and  as  independent  and  free  as  the  air 
that  he  breathed.  He  had  much  more  education  than  the  average 
of  his  associates.  His  position  of  leadership  among  the  Regu- 
lators, far  from  being  sought  by  him,  seems  to  have  been  thrust 
upon  him  by  them  in  recognition  of  his  superior  merits.  He  did 
not  hold  back,  however,  from  any  fear  of  consequences ;  he  feared 
no  man  or  set  of  men.  but  from  an  innate  modesty  based  upon  his 
thorough  conviction  that  all  men  should  be  free  and  equal.  It  was 
this  that  prevented  him  from  being  an  effective  leader  of  the  people 
in  action. 

In  person  he  was  tall,  handsome  and  well  proportioned.  Says 
his  grandson :  "My  first  impression  of  him  was  when  he  was  old, 
but  even  then  he  was  a  fine-looking  man,  fully  six  feet  tall  and 
erect,  though  he  walked  with  a  cane.  The  Irish  brogue  was  dis- 
tinct in  his  enunciation,  which  was  earnest  and  at  times  fluent. 
He  was  a  strict  Presbyterian,  and  held  prayers  morning  and 
night.  His  habits  were  temperate.  His  library  was  large  and 
miscellaneous,  and  in  the  absence  of  company  he  was  generally 
reading.  I  never  saw  him  dressed  otherwise  than  in  black  broad- 
cloth, and  his  linen  was  always  clean  and  fresh  looking.  Kindness 
and  benevolence  were  striking  traits  of  his  character,  as  was  mani- 
fested by  the  lamentations  of  the  poor  at  his  death." 

So  he  died,  honored  by  all,  and  surrounded  in  his  peaceful  home 
by  sorrowing  friends  and  kindred. 

Frank  Nash. 


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HERMAN    HUSBANDS 


"In  fields  he  dare  not  fight  where  honor  calls; 
The  very  noise  of  war  his  soul  doth  wound. 
He  quakes  but  hearing  his  own  trumpet  sound." 

— Dryden, 

fHE  grandfather  of  Herman  Husbands  was  one 
of  William  Penn's  colonists,  and  his  father  was 
a  Quaker  in  good  standing  to  the  time  of  his 
death.  Herman  was  born  October  3,  1724, 
probably  in  Cecil  County,  Maryland.  From  his 
birth  to  his  young  manhood  he  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  Quaker  environment,  was  subjected  to  a  Quaker  training 
and  conformed  himself  to  Quaker  standards  and  ideals.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was,  as  soon  as  he  was  old  enough  to 
determine  the  matter,  conscientiously  an  adherent  of  the  doctrine 
of  these  religionists.  For  some  cause,  Caruthers  says  on  account 
of  a  disagreement  between  him  and  the  leaders  of  his  church,  he 
was  disciplined  and  fellowship  was  withdrawn  from  him.  He 
came  to  North  Carolina  to  settle  in  November,  1755,  bringing 
with  him  his  young  wife  and  the  first  born  of  his  family. 
He  settled  first  in  Corbinton,  now  Hillsboro.  Soon  after,  how- 
ever, he  obtained  from  Earl  Granville  a  grant  of  640  acres  on 
Deep  River.  In  ten  years  he  took  up  in  this  way  over  8000  acres 
of  what  is  the  best  land  in  what  is  now  Randolph  County.  During 
the  same  period  he  conveyed  to  others  about  3000  of  these  acres  It 


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i86  NORTH  CAROLINA 

appears  that  he  was  a  man  of  some  means  at  his  first  coming 
to  North  Carolina.  In  1760  he  loaned  one  Clegg  £1500,  and  took 
an  absolute  deed  from  him  for  3500  acres,  making  at  the  same 
time  a  parol  agreement  to  reconvey  if  the  said  sum  was  paid  in 
fifteen  years.  It  was  paid  and  the  reconveyance  made  in  1769. 
This  indicates  a  confidence  in  his  personal  integrity  that  was  justi- 
fied by  the  event. 

It  is  well  to  notice  that  only  two  of  the  deeds  or  grants  made 
to  him,  and  those  at  his  first  coming,  November  9  and  14,  1755, 
were  ever  recorded  in  Orange  County,  though  many  were  pro- 
bated. In  the  deeds  executed  by  him  to  others  he  always,  with 
what  seems  ostentatious  humility  or  assertive  democracy,  desig- 
nates himself  yeoman  or  farmer,  while  the  grantee  is  called 
planter,  though  he  did  not  own  one-fifth  as  much  land  as  he.  To 
all  his  tracts  of  land  he  g^ve  appropriate  names,  and  seemed  to 
know  well  their  situation,  their  character  and  their  capacity.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  in  North  Carolina  he  seems  to  have  maintained 
a  correspondence  of  some  sort  with  friends  in  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania — ^not,  however,  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  as  Mr. 
Caruthers  suggests,  for  Franklin  was  continuously  out  of  the 
country,  1765-75.  That  he  was  a  great  admirer  of  Franklin  goes 
without  saying,  and  he  was  probably  a  reader  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Gazette.  To  a  reasonable  certainty  it  may  be  said  that  he  derived 
his  political  ideals  to  a  great  degree  from  Franklin's  writingfs, 
for  in  style  and  method  of  treatment  in  his  own  writings  he  was 
an  imitator  of  Franklin — ^but  at  a  long  distance.  He  was,  how- 
ever, in  his  reading  not  confined  to  the  writings  of  this  great  man. 
It  was  a  period  filled  with  discussions  of  the  rights  of  man.  They 
occupied  no  less  the  attention  of  the  penny-a-liners  than  of  the 
great  philosophers  and  thinkers  of  the  day.  Many  crude  and 
exaggerated  notions  of  them  were  abroad  in  the  world,  and 
Husbands  seems  to  have  absorbed  many  of  these. 

It  is  well  to  get  some  clear  idea  of  his  character  before  dis- 
cussing the  Regulator  troubles,  for  that  character  will  throw  much 
light  upon  his  relations  to  that  movement. 

He  had  had  Quaker  antecedents  through  at  least  two  genera- 


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HERMAN  HUSBANDS  187 

tions.  He  had  been  bom  in  a  Quaker  family.  He  had  been  edu- 
cated and  trained  a  Quaker  in  the  midst  of  a  Quaker  environment. 
And  though  his  relations  to  these  religionists  had  been  severed, 
he  still  had  the  Quaker  habit  of  thought  and  the  Quaker  tempera- 
ment. He  was  then,  essentially,  a  product  of  the  traditions,  the 
customs  and  the  religion  of  the  Quakers.  He  was  honest,  and, 
in  ordinary  affairs,  plain,  direct,  simple  and  truthful.  He  was  no 
respecter  of  persons  or  of  dignities.  He  believed  an  oath  to  be 
wrong,  and  to  fight  wrong.  But  there  the  influence  of  his  re- 
ligion stopped.  He  was  not  pious.  He  had  none  of  the  deep 
spirituality  that  characterized  so  many  of  his  co-religionists,  and 
made  their  faith,  notwithstanding  some  external  absurdities,  so 
inspiring  and  beautiful.  Transferred  to  the  backwoods  of  North 
Carolina,  he  became  ambitious  for  worldly  influence  and  power. 
His  ardor  in  pursuit  of  these  would  carry  him  farther  than  his 
Quaker  conscience  could  justify.  So  we  can  see  all  through  his 
record  a  shrinking  from  the  responsibilities  that  his  previous 
activity  had  thrust  upon  him.  It  was  a  struggle,  indeed,  between 
what  in  him  was  artificial  and  what  was  natural.  This  made  him 
on  several  occasions  seem  cowardly,  and  when  he  was  in  danger, 
shuflSe,  dodge  and  lie.  He  had  in  a  marked  degree  cunning,  a 
sort  of  pitiful  shrewdness  that  in  the  strong  man  is  always  con- 
temptible. In  him,  however,  it  was  more  justifiable,  because  it 
was  the  only  offensive  and  defensive  weapon  that  his  conscience 
would  permit  him  to  use.  He  was,  besides,  a  genuine  reformer, 
attacking  real  evils,  very  greatly  exaggerated  to  his  own  mind,  it 
is  true,  but  nevertheless  very  tangible.  In  bringing  rascals  and 
thieves  to  account  he  was  an  advocate  of  a  just  and  holy  cause. 
Means  against  which  men  of  ordinary  consciences  would  revolt 
must  be  used  if  thereby  the  great  end  could  be  attained. 

He  was,  in  short,  a  man  of  decided  mental  vigor,  with  a  limited 
education  and  range  of  reading,  handicapped  by  his  training, 
harrassed  and  tortured  by  his  conscience,  dealing  with  conditions 
that  could  be  controlled  only  by  a  man  of  force,  courage  and 
fighting  capacity.  He  had  the  art  and  shrewdness  to  create  the 
turmoil,  but  he  could  not  deal  with  it  or  make  the  best  of  it. 


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i88  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  Regulator  movement  was  in  its  inception  a  protest  against 
the  loose  method  of  levying,  collecting  and  accounting  for  taxes 
and  against  the  taking  by  public  officials  of  greater  fees  than  the 
law  allowed.  Husbands,  already  a  man  of  great  influence  in  his 
own  section,'  was  particularly  active  in  bringing  these  grievances 
to  the  attention  of  the  people,  and  in  organizing  them,  so  as  to 
make  their  protest  against  them  effective.  The  proposed  meeting 
of  twelve  representatives  of  the  people  at  Maddock's  Mill,  in 
Orange  County,  October,  1766,  with  the  officers  of  the  county,  was 
Husbands'  plan  for  accommodating  disputes.  It  would  be  un- 
profitable to  speculate  as  to  what  the  result  of  this  conference 
might  have  been.  The  officers,  following  Fanning's  example  and 
advice,  did  not  attend.  The  term  "judiciously"  was  used  in  the 
call  for  this  meeting,  and  he,  with  what  seems  on  the  surface 
provoking  technicality,  objected  to  this.  The  truth  probably  was, 
that  he  realized  that  his  defense  to  the  charge  of  extortion  must 
itself  be  based  upon  a  leg^l  technicality  which  could  not  be  appre- 
hended by  the  lay  mind,  particularly  when  that  mind  was  already 
inflamed  by  opposition  to,  if  not  hatred  of,  him.  The  failure  of 
this  conference  was  taken  by  the  people  as  a  confession  of  guilt 
on  the  part  of  the  officers.  Although  there  was  no  movement 
on  the  surface  of  things  during  1767,  the  discontent  was  spreading 
all  over  the  county  under  the  artful  manipulation  of  Husbands 
and  others.  In  April,  1768,  he  converted  what  was  in  reality  an 
unorganized  mob  into  an  oath-bound  organization  that  then  for 
the  first  time  assumed  the  name  of  Regulators.  "We  will  pay 
no  more  taxes  until  we  are  satisfied  they  are  agreeable  to  law 
and  applied  to  the  purposes  therein  mentioned"  was  one  of  the 
planks  of  their  platform.  A  few  days  later,  April  8,  1768,  they 
had  an  opportunity  to  put  it  into  effect.  The  sheriff  levied  on 
a  horse,  saddle  and  bridle  in  Hillsboro.  About  a  hundred  of  them 
came  to  town,  rescued  the  horse,  tied  the  sheriff  to  a  tree,  terrorized 
the  citizens,  fired  several  shots  through  Fanning's  house  and  then 
rode  off  with  the  rescued  property.  The  war  had  begun.  The 
Regulators  were  carrying  out  their  program  to  pay  no  more  taxes. 
Rumors  flew  thick  and  fast  up  and  down  the  country.    On  the  one 


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HERMAN  HUSBANDS  189 

side,  that  the  governor  was  to  raise  the  Indians  and  massacre  the 
inhabitants,  their  leaders  were  to  be  arrested,  hurried  off  to  New- 
Bern  or  Wihnington,  and,  without  any  chance  to  escape,  were  to 
be  tried  there  and  hanged  there.  On  the  other  side,  the  Regu- 
lators were  embodying  to  march  upon  Hillsboro  to  slay  its  inhabi- 
tants and  bum  the  town.  Every  one  was  looking  anxiously  to 
the  future,  knowing  not  what  would  happen.  If  an  oflficer  went 
through  the  Regulator  settlements  he  had  to  ride  for  his  life,  and 
a  Regulator  dare  not  come  to  town  unless  accompanied  by  so  many 
of  his  neighbors  that  he  knew  he  was  safe  from  attack.  The 
officers  were  in  reality  but  a  handful  compared  with  the  number 
of  their  foes.  They  had  now,  however,  the  law  and  the  power  of 
the  government  at  their  backs.  The  Regulators'  open  defiance  of 
constituted  authority  had  shifted  the  issue,  and  the  defendants  had 
now  become  the  prosecutors.  The  certainty  that  the  Regulators 
were  wrong  had  put  in  the  background  entirely  the  probability 
that  the  officers  were  first  wrong,  and  the  cry  was  that  these 
flagrant  contemnors  of  law  should  be  brought  to  justice. 

Meantime  where  was  Husbands  ?  Quietly  attending  to  his  daily 
duties  on  his  Sandy  Creek  plantation.  He  had  not  joined  the 
organization,  and  now  that  the  storm  had  broken  upon  the  land 
he  hoped  to  remain  in  peace  far  from  its  center.  It  was  a  vain 
hope,  for  Thomas  Hart,  accompanied  by  twenty-nine  others, 
among  whom  was  Edmund  Fanning,  on  the  night  of  May  i,  1768, 
made  a  dash  out  into  their  settlements  armed  with  legal  warrants, 
captured  Husbands  and  William  Butler  the  next  day,  and  brought 
them  safe  to  Hillsboro.  The  whole  country  was  aroused  by  this 
and  began  to  embody  to  rescue  these  leaders  and  prevent  their 
removal  to  the  East  for  trial. 

This  arrest  revealed  the  artful  cunning  of  Husbands  in  strong 
contrast  with  the  dauntless  courage  of  William  Butler.  Said  the 
latter  when  his  life  was  threatened,  "I  have  but  one  life,  and  I  can 
freely  give  that  up  for  this  cause,  for  God  knows  it  is  just." 
Meantime  Husbands  squirmed  and  twisted  and  lied  and  made  false 
promises  that  he  might  be  released,  taking  care  at  the  same  time 
to  set  a  trap  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  for  his  arch  enemy, 


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190  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Fanning.  According  to  Husbands's  own  account,  Fanning  fell 
into  this  trap,  and  made  him  promise,  among  other  things,  before 
he  would  release  him,  that  he  would  not  **show  any  jealousies  of 
officers  taking  extortionary  fees,"  a  virtual  confession  on  Fan- 
ning's  part  that  he  was  using  a  public  prosecution  as  an  instru- 
ment for  private  oppression.  No  doubt  Husbands  at  his  release 
went  off  chuckling  to  tell  his  followers  how  he  had  outwitted  the 
shrewd  lawyer  Fanning.  The  truth  is,  that  the  officers  had  in- 
tended to  carry  him  and  Butler  to  New-Bern  for  trial,  but  were 
prevented  by  the  rising  of  the  country  to  the  rescue,  and  so 
attempted  to  make  a  virtue  of  a  necessity  by  arranging  bail  for 
them  and  discharging  them  before  they  themselves  should  be 
overpowered  by  force. 

Husbands's  trial  came  on  in  the  September  Superior  Court. 
Here,  again,  we  see  shuffling  and  dodging.  He  is  uncertain  at 
first  about  attending  trial  at  all.  He  goes  from  town  to  the  camp 
of  the  Regulators  and  back  to  town  again.  On  Monday  morning 
the  doubt  is  solved  for  him  by  his  being  committed  by  the  court 
to  jail.  He  is  uncertain  whether  to  employ  a  lawyer.  He  does 
finally  employ  James  Milner  and  Abner  Nash,  giving  to  the  former 
his  note  for  £$0,  and  to  the  latter  his  note  for  £150,  know- 
ing at  the  time  that  he  would  never  pay  them  and  hav- 
ing no  intention  to  pay  them.  He  was  acquitted,  there 
being  no  evidence  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Regulator 
organization  or  that  he  had  aided  or  abetted  the  riot  and  rescue 
of  the  preceding  April.  His  lawyers  were  forced  to  sue  upon 
these  notes.  He  pleaded  duress,  and  the  issue  was  found  against 
him  at  the  March  term,  1770,  of  the  same  court.  Executions  on 
these  judgments  were  returned,  "sale  stopped  by  a  mob."  He 
satisfied  his  own  conscience  by  arguing  that  the  statute  provided 
a  specific  fee  for  attorneys  and  it  was  unlawful  for  them  to 
charge  more,  disregarding  the  plain  fact  that  the  statute  intended 
to  provide  fees  for  attorneys  whose  functions  did  not  extend  to 
an  advocacy  of  their  client's  cause  in  court,  so  the  compensation 
for  these  services  was  simply  a  matter  of  contract  between  the 
parties,  although  the  same  person  was  both  attorney  and  advocate. 


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HERMAN  HUSBANDS  191 

All  this,  however,  but  added  to  his  influence  and  power  among 
the  people.  When  he  came  in  contact  with  the  foe  he  not  only 
came  off  scathless  himself,  but  bearing  spoil  with  him.  He  was 
too  smart  for  them  all. 

He  .was,  with  John  Prior,  in  the  summer  of  1769,  elected  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  Assembly,  defeating  Edmund  Fanning  and 
Thomas  Lloyd.  He  appeared  at  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly 
in  New-Bern  October  23d,  and  was  placed  upon  the  Committee  of 
Public  Accounts.  Governor  Tryon,  however,  in  a  pet,  which  he 
afterward  explained  was  caused  by  illness,  dissolved  this  Assembly 
on  November  6.  March  12,  1770,  a  new  election  was  held,  and 
Herman  Husbands  and  John  Prior  were  again  sent  as  representa- 
tives of  Orange  County.  This  Assembly,  on  account  of  the  un- 
healthfulness  of  the  season,  was  prorogued  from  time  to  time 
until  December  5,  1770,  when  it  met  in  New- Bern.  This  was  after 
the  Hillsboro  riot.  Husbands  was  expelled  from  the  House  after 
some  time  spent  in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  considering  the 
matter,  on  December  20,  because,  first,  he  was  a  leader  of  the 
Regulators ;  second,  he  had  published  a  libel  on  Maurice  Moore ; 
third,  he  had  lied  about  this  libel  on  his  examination  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Propositions  and  Grievances ;  fourth,  he  had  said  that  if 
he  should  be  confined  by  the  House,  he  would  be  released  by  the 
Regulators.  Immediately  upon  his  expulsion.  Chief  Justice  How- 
ard, at  Governor  Tryon's  solicitation,  issued  a  warrant  against 
him  for  this  libel,  and  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  New-Bern  jail 
tmtil  February  8,  1771,  when  he  was  discharged,  the  grand  jury 
failing  to  find  a  bill  against  him.  It  was  well  that  he  was  re- 
leased, for  very  strenuous  efforts  were  being  made  by  Rednap 
Howell,  James  Hunter  and  others  to  raise  the  people  to  go  down 
to  New-Bern.  These  efforts  were  partially  successful,  for  a  large 
body  of  them  were  marching  toward  that  town  when  stopped 
at  Haw  River  by  a  letter  of  Husbands  announcing  his  release. 

In  the  narration  we  have  passed  by  the  Hillsboro  riot  of  Sep- 
tember, 1770.  Some  account  of  that  will  be  found  in  the  sketch 
of  the  life  of  Judge  John  Williams.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
Husbands  was  there,  but,  as  always  when  the  time  for  action 


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192  NORTH  CAROLINA 

came,  keeping  himself  in  the  background,  as  he  instigated  to 
violence  others  who  had  no  conscientious  scruples  against  it. 

He  seems  to  have  pursued  the  same  course  at  Alamance. 
Caruthers  says  that  though  he  was  active  in  bringing  the  people 
together,  his  Quaker  principles  would  not  permit  him  to-  fight. 
When,  then,  the  battle  began,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  off. 
He  was  never  captured,  but  after  the  battle  was  outlawed,  a  price 
put  upon  his  head  and  his  farms  were  ravaged. 

He  appeared  no  more  upon  the  surface  of  public  events  in  North 
Carolina.  He  visited  the  State  during  the  Revolutionary  War 
to  look  after  his  property  interests,  but  returned  soon  to  Pennsyl- 
vania. Some  of  his  descendants,  however,  resided  for  many  years 
in  the  State. 

After  Alamance  he  seems  to  have  gone  by  his  home,  collected 
what  cash  he  could,  and  then,  passing  through  Virginia,  took 
refuge  in  Western  Maryland  for  some  months,  and  later  located 
in  West  Pennsylvania. 

He  was  very  active  in,  if  not  a  leader  of,  the  Whiskey  Insur- 
rection in  1794.  He  was  on  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  the 
Insurrectionists  with  Bradford,  Brackinridge  and  Gallatin.  That 
was  an  armed  resistance  to  the  collection  of  a  Federal  tax  on  dis- 
tilled spirits.  It  took  very  much  the  same  course  that  the  Regu- 
lator movement  did  in  North  Carolina,  and  had  as  its  basis  the 
same  false  conception  of  the  rights  of  man — that  is,  that  each 
individual  citizen  has  the  right  to  determine  for  himself  the  justice 
of  a  law  enacted  by  the  government  under  which  he  lives.  Far 
from  being  under  any  obligation  to  obey  it,  he  may  resist  it  to 
the  death  and  induce  others  to  join  him  in  the  resistance — ^a  doc- 
trine that  is  essentially  anarchistic.  In  Pennsylvania  they  whipped 
the  officers,  destroyed  their  property  (just  as  the  Regulators  did 
in  North  Carolina)  and  drove  them  out  of  the  country.  Fifteen 
thousand  men  under  General  Harry  Lee  were  sent  by  President 
Washington  against  the  rebels.  As  he  advanced.  General  Lee 
issued  a  proclamation  in  terms  almost  identical  with  that  of 
Governor  Tryon  before  Alamance.  The  Insurrectionists,  however, 
wiser  than  the  Regulators,  acceded  to  the  terms  of  the  proclama- 


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HERMAN  HUSBANDS  193 

tion,  surrendered  the  criminals  among  them,  promised  to  pay 
arrears  of  taxes  and  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States.  Many  of  them  were  subsequently  tried  in  the  Circuit 
Conrt  of  the  United  States  and  convicted,  two  capitally.  Among 
those  convicted  was  Herman  Husbands.  President  Washington  \ 
pardoned  nearly  all  the  convicts,  and  he  is  said  to  have  pardoned 
Husbands  at  the  solicitation  of  Dr.  David  Caldwell,  Dr.  Rush 
of  Philadelphia  and  the  senators  from  North  Carolina,  Martin 
and  Bloodworth.  Husbands,  thus  released  from  imprisonment,  in 
179s,  died  on  his  way  home  from  Philadelphia. 

He  was  married  three  times :  first  unknown ;  second,  on  July  3, 
1872,  to  Mary  Pugh,  said  to  have  been  sister  to  James  Pugh,  the 
Rfeg^lator,  who  was  executed  at  Hillsboro,  June  19,  1771 ;  third, 
to  Amy  or  Emmy  Allen,  in  1766.  The  last  was  with  him  at  his 
death. 

Authorities:  Husbands'  book  on  Wheeler,  p.  301  et  seq,; 
Caruther's  "Life  of  Caldwell;"  VH.  and  VHI.  Colonial  Records, 
and  the  County  Records  at  Hillsboro ;  Weeks's  "Southern  Quaker 
and  Slavery." 

Frank  Nash. 


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JAMES  INNES 


HE  appointment  of  Gabriel  Johnston  to  be  gov- 
ernor of  North  Carolina  in  1733  apparently  led 
to  quite  an  influx  of  Scotchmen  to  the  Cape 
Fear,  which  was  then  rapidly  coming  into  note 
as  a  favorable  location  in  the  New  World. 
Among  those  who  were  attracted  to  the  little 
hamlet  of  Newton  at  that  time  was  Captain  James  Innes,  who 
probably  had  resided  at  Cannisbay,  in  Caithness,  in  the  extreme 
northern  part  of  Scotland,  near  "John  O'Groat's  house."  Within 
a  month  after  the  arrival  of  Governor  Johnston  he  issued  com- 
missions to  justices  to  hold  precinct  courts,  and  among  the  justices 
for  New  Hanover  Precinct  was  named  James  Innes,  and  in  May, 
1735,  the  governor  recommended  Innes  for  a  place  in  his  Majesty's 
Council,  and  appointed  him  assistant  to  William  Smith,  chief 
baron  of  the  province.  Captain  Innes  speedily  became  a  resident 
of  Wilmington,  and  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  governor  in  his 
various  controversies  with  the  older  settlers.  It  appears  that  he 
had  seen  service  in  the  British  army,  and  when,  in  the  fall  of  1740, 
four  companies  of  troops  were  raised  in  North  Carolina  for 
service  against  the  Spaniards,  Captain  Innes  was  appointed  to 
command  the  company  raised  on  the  Cape  Fear.  This  battalion 
took  an  active  part  in  the  sea  attack  upon  Boca  Chico,  and  subse- 
quently aided  in  the  deadly  assault  upon  Fort  San  Lazaro  at 
Cartagena.    In  that  disastrous  campaign  Captain  Innes  was  inti- 


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JAMES  INNES  195 


mately  associated  with  Lawrence  Washington,  the  elder  brother 
of  General  George  Washington,  and  other  colonial  officers,  and 
he  himself  won  g^eat  reputation  for  capacity,  judgment  and  cool 
conduct.  This  expedition  ended  disastrously,  particularly  because 
the  troops  were  swept  away  by  a  malignant  fever,  so  that  probably 
of  the  400  North  Carolinians  who  were  engaged  on  it,  not  one- 
fifth  survived.  Returning  to  North  Carolina,  Captain  Innes  be- 
came a  successful  planter,  was  colonel  of  the  militia  in  New 
Hanover  County,  and  one  of  Granville's  agents  for  the  sale  of 
his  land.  In  1750,  on  the  death  of  Eleazer  Allen,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Council,  and  was  justly  esteemed  as  one  of  the 
first  men  of  the  province.  When  the  French  and  Indian  War 
broke  out,  in  1754,  the  North  Carolina  Assembly  promptly  pro- 
vided for  raising  a  regiment  to  assist  in  the  defense  of  Virginia, 
and  Colonel  Innes  was  appointed  colonel  of  that  force.  Governor 
Dinwiddie,  who  seems  to  have  known  Colonel  Innes  well,  address- 
ing him  as  "Dear  James,"  and  conveying  in  his  letters  messages 
from  his  wife  and  daughters,  tendered  him  the  position  of  com- 
mander-in-chief of  all  the  forces  raised  for  defense.  Colonel  Innes 
modestly  demurred,  but  Governor  Dinwiddie  replied :  ** Your  age 
is  nothing  when  you  reflect  on  your  regular  method  of  living; 
and  as  for  the  expectations  of  the  people  here,  I  always  have 
regard  to  merit,  and  I  know  yours,  and  you  need  not  mind  or 
fear  any  reflections."  Colonel  Fry  had  been  the  commander-in- 
chief  and  Lieutenant-colonel  George  Washington  was  under  him, 
but  Colonel  Fry  died,  and  Washington  might  have  expected  to 
succeed  him.  However,  on  being  informed  by  Governor  Din- 
widdie of  the  appointment  of  Innes,  Washington  wrote :  "I  rejoice 
that  I  am  likely  to  be  happy  under  the  command  of  an  experienced 
officer  and  man  of  sense.  It  is  what  I  have  ardently  wished  for." 
About  the  last  of  June,  1754,  the  North  Carolina  regiment,  which 
had  been  reduced  to  450  rank  and  file,  began  to  arrive  at  Win- 
chester, where  they  found  that  no  provisions  had  been  collected 
for  them  and  no  ammunition  supplied,  and  their  pay  was  in 
arrears ;  and,  moreover,  the  governor  suggested  to  Colonel  Innes 
to  build  a  log  fort  and  magazine,  saying  that  he  did  not  wish 


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196  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  force  to  proceed  toward  the  Ohio,  and  informed  him,  "I  can 
give  no  orders  for  entertaining  your  regiment,  as  this  Dominion 
will  maintain  none  but  their  own  forces."  Indeed,  Colonel  Innes 
discovered  a  strong  feeling  among  the  Virginians  against  his 
appointment  to  the  chief  command,  and  a  mutinous  disposition 
soon  developed  itself  among  them.  The  unfavorable  situation  led 
Colonel  Innes  to  disband  his  North  Carolina  regiment  and  order 
their  return  to  North  Carolina.  He  himself  was  directed  to  build 
a  fort  on  Wills  Creek,  afterward  called  Fort  Cumberland,  and 
not  being  allowed  to  go  to  the  front,  he  remained  there  in  com- 
mand of  about  400  men,  only  forty  of  whom  were  North  Caro- 
linians. Early  in  October  Governor  Sharpe  of  Maryland  pro- 
duced a  commission  from  the  King  appointing  him  commander- 
in-chief,  and  Innes  wished  to  resign  and  retire,  but  was  prevailed 
on  to  retain  his  rank  and  accept  the  appointment  of  camp  master 
general;  and  he  remained  on  the  frontier  organizing  the  forces 
and  completing  the  fort.  Governor  Sharpe  did  nothing,  and  the 
next  year  General  Braddock  arrived  from  England  with  a  large 
force  of  British  regulars.  When  Colonel  Washington  found  that 
the  orders  gave  precedence  to  British  officers  of  the  same  grade 
over  colonial  officers  of  senior  commissions,  he  threw  up  his  com- 
mission and  retired  from  the  service,  but  was  prevailed  on  to  serve 
as  an  aide  on  Braddock's  staff.  Braddock  appointed  Innes  gov- 
ernor of  Fort  Cumberland,  and  left  him  in  command  there  when 
the  forces  advanced  toward  Fort  Du  Quesne.  When  disaster 
overtook  that  brave  but  reckless  general,  and  his  routed  forces 
returned  as  fugitives  to  Fort  Cumberland,  Colonel  Dunbar,  then 
in  command,  precipitately  continued  his  frenzied  flight  and  hurried 
in  August  to  find  winter  quarters  in  Philadelphia. 

The  flight  of  the  regulars  disorganized  the  provincials,  and 
many  of  Captain  Brice  Dobbs's  North  Carolina  company  deserted ; 
still,  there  were  some  forty  or  fifty  North  Carolinians  at  the  fort 
remaining  with  Colonel  Innes.  Colonel  Dunbar  left  there  some 
three  or  four  hundred  sick  and  wounded  to  be  cared  for.  Colonel 
Innes  had  urged  him  to  send  a  reconnoitring  party  to 
Great  Meadows,  but  Colonel  Dunbar  could  not  wait.     Colonel 


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JAMES  INNES  i97 


Innes    therefore    despatched    such    a    party    from    his    weak 
garrison. 

On  the  25th  of  August  Governor  Dinwiddie  wrote  G)lonel  Innes 
as  follows: 

"Yours  of  the  iTtb  of  August  I  received  by  Jenkins,  and  copy  of  both 
yours  to  G)Ionel  Dunbar.  His  answer  to  your  first  is  very  evasive.  Your 
last  to  him  was  extremely  proper  and  personal.  ...  I  shall  very  soon 
augment  our  forces  to  laoo  men,  and  then  order  as  many  as  you  think 
proper  for  your  assistance.  ...  I  am,  Dear  James,  yours  affectionately." 

Governor  Dinwiddie  appointed  Washington  to  the  command 
of  the  new  levies,  and  a  month  later  Colonel  Innes  returned  to 
North  Carolina  on  leave  of  absence.  But  on  the  loth  of  October 
Governor  Dinwiddie  advised  Governor  Dobbs  that  the  French 
and  Indians  had  surrounded  Fort  Cumberland,  had  killed  and 
scalped  nearly  one  hundred  of  the  people  and  had  cut  off  the 
communication  between  the  fort  and  the  inhabitants.  "I  wish 
for  Colonel  Innes's  return."  Without  a  day's  delay  Colonel  Innes 
hurried  again  to  Fort  Cumberland  and  remained  there  until  the 
following  summer,  when,  new  dispositions  being  made  and  the 
immediate  frontier  being  quiet,  he  returned  to  North  Carolina, 
and  eventually  retired  from  the  service.  As  a  competent,  vigilant 
and  efficient  officer,  faithfully  discharging  trying  duties,  he  lost 
no  reputation  amid  all  the  difficulties  of  the  unfavorable  circum- 
stances by  which  he  was  surrounded.  He  died  at  his  home  near 
Wilmington  on  September  5,  1759. 

In  his  will  Colonel  Innes  gave  his  plantation,  Point  Pleasant,  a 
considerable  personal  estate,  his  library  and  £100  sterling  "for  the 
use  of  a  free  school  for  the  benefit  of  the  youth  of  North  Carolina," 
this  being  the  first  private  bequest  for  educational  purposes  in  the 
history  of  our  people.  He  also  made  provision  for  the  purchase 
of  a  church  bell  for  the  parish  church  at  Cannisbay,  in  Caithnesse, 
and  directed  that  £100  should  be  put  at  interest  for  the  poor  of 
that  parish. 

In  1761  Colonel  Innes's  widow,  Jane,  married  Francis  Corbin, 
who  had  come  in  1744  to  North  Carolina  as  the  agent  of  Lord 
Granville.  5".  A.  Ashe. 


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JAMES  IREDELL 

[MONG  the  bevy  of  illustrious  characters  who 
were  evolved  by  the  heroic  times  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary period  in  North  Carolina  was  James 
Iredell,  distinguished  more  particularly  as  a 
jurist,  a  writer  and  a  statesman.  He  was  bom 
in  the  town  of  Lewes,  Sussex  County,  England, 
on  the  5th  of  October,  1751,  but  came  to  North  Carolina  when  but 
seventeen  years  of  age.  He  was  a  son  of  Francis  Iredell  and 
Margaret  McCulloh,  and  through  his  mother  was  nearly  related 
to  Henry  McCulloh,  who  was  the  kinsman  of  Governor  Gabriel 
Johnston,  and  who,  about  the  time  of  Johnston's  appointment,  was 
himself  appointed  comptroller  of  the  King's  rents  in  the  province 
of  Carolina,  and  obtained  grants  for  nearly  1,000,000  acres 
of  land  for  settlement  in  the  province. 

His  father  having  been  overtaken  by  misfortune,  in  February, 
1768,  through  the  influence  of  a  kinsman,  Sir  George  McCartney, 
young  Iredell  was  appointed  controller  of  the  customs  at  Edenton, 
and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  arrived  in  that  town.  Although 
so  young,  he  had  been  well  trained,  and  had  the  elements  of  a  fine 
manhood  in  his  composition,  and  he  soon  won  the  friendly  interest 
of  the  gentlemen  of  Edenton. 

Indeed,  even  at  that  early  age  his  friends  regarded  him  with 
admiration.  In  view  of  his  anticipated  departure  from  England, 
a  learned  minister  wrote  to  him :  **The  eyes  of  great  numbers  are 


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JAMES  IREDELL  199 


very  anxiously  fixed  upon  you.  You  have  given  your  relations 
and  friends  reason  to  expect  great  things  from  you.  God  hath 
blessed  you  with  excellent  abilities,  which  you  have  worthily  im- 
proved. I  know  your  intellectual  endowment,  and  the  proficiency 
you  have  made  in  useful  knowledge."  His  kinsman,  Henry 
Eustice  McCulloh,  who  had  inherited  the  large  McCulloh  grants 
in  North  Carolina,  and  was  well  acquainted  at  Edenton,  had 
apparently  arranged  for  young  Iredell  to  be  directed  in  his  studies 
by  Mr.  Samuel  Johnston,  and  he  was  at  once  introduced  into 
Edenton  society  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  Al- 
though he  remitted  a  large  part  of  his  salary  for  the  support  of 
his  parents,  he  retained  a  competency  for  his  maintenance  while 
he  studied  law  under  Mr.  Johnston  and  fitted  himself  for  a  pro- 
fessional career.  He  began  the  practice  of  the  law  in  December, 
1770,  and  at  the  same  time  became  deeply  interested  in  the  public 
questions  that  were  agitating  the  minds  of  the  colonists.  In  1773 
he  married  Hannah  Johnston,  the  younger  sister  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Johnston,  and  thus  became  still  more  intimately  associated  with 
that  great  man  and  with  Joseph  Hewes,  who  himself  was  about 
to  be  married  to  Miss  Isabella  Johnston,  and,  after  her  sudden 
death,  continued  on  the  footing  of  a  member  of  that  family ;  and 
this  triumvirate  brought  to  the  consideration  of  public  affairs 
an  intelligence  and  a  patriotism  not  excelled  elsewhere  in  the 
province.  The  writings  of  Mr.  Iredell  even  at  that  early  time 
arc  remarkable  for  their  strength,  boldness  and  vigor. 

Although  Hooper  was  then  thirty-two  years  of  age  and  Iredell 
but  twenty-two,  in  April,  1774,  Hooper  himself,  so  able  and  dis- 
tinguished, wrote  to  Iredell :  **I  am  happy,  my  dear  sir,  that  my 
conduct  in  public  life  has  met  your  approbation.  It  is  a  suffrage 
which  makes  me  vain,  as  it  flows  from  a  man  who  has  the  wisdom 
to  distinguish  and  too  much  virtue  to  flatter.  Whilst  I  was  active 
in  contest,  you  forged  the  weapons  which  were  to  give  success  to 
the  cause  I  supported.  .  .  .  With  you  I  anticipate  the  important 
share  which  the  colonies  must  soon  have  in  regulating  the  political 
balance.  They  are  striding  fast  to  independence,  and  erelong 
will  build  an  empire  on  the  ruins  of  Great  Britain."    This  letter 


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200  NORTH  CAROLINA 

indicates  the  trend  of  thought  at  that  early  day  and  the  esteem 
in  which  Iredell  was  held  by  his  associates. 

When  the  laws  of  the  State  were  to  be  revised  in  1776,  Iredell 
was  appointed  by  the  Provincial  Congress  one  of  the  commission- 
ers to  perform  that  important  service,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Court 
Law  of  1777  was  prepared  by  him.  When  the  courts  were  organ- 
ized in  December,  1777, he  was  one  of  the  three  judges  then  elected, 
and  he  served  on  the  bench  for  one  term,  when,  because  the  salary 
was  insufficient,  he  felt  constrained  to  resign  and  resume  his 
practice. 

In  January  1779,  the  Assembly  desired  his  services  as  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Continental  Congress,  but  his  want  of  means  again 
compelled  him  to  decline  this  employment ;  but  on  the  resignation 
of  Waightstill  Avery,  the  attorney-general,  in  July,  1779,  he 
accepted  the  appointment  of  attorney-general  of  the  State,  and  he 
continued  in  that  office  until  the  end  of  the  war  in  1782. 

Wlien,  at  the  May  term,  1787,  the  question  arose  as  to  the 
validity  of  a  clause  in  the  Confiscation  Acts  directing  the  courts 
to  dismiss  certain  cases,  and  the  court  questioned  the  constitution- 
ality of  that  act.  Judge  Iredell  took  strong  ground  that  "an  act  of 
Assembly  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  is  void,  and  cannot 
be  obeyed  without  disobeying  the  superior  law ;"  and  he  upheld  the 
court  in  its  determination  not  to  observe  the  legislative  enactment. 
In  like  manner,  when  on  the  Supreme  Court  bench,  he  again 
declared  "that  if  any  act  of  Congress  or  of  the  legislature  of  the 
State  violates  those  Constitutional  provisions,  it  is  unquestionably 
void."  It  would  seem  that  no  man  understood  better  than  he  the 
system  of  government  that  had  arisen  in  the  New  World  on  the 
ruins  of  the  colonial  governments.  In  1787  Judge  Iredell  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Council  and  sole  commissioner  to  revise 
and  compile  the  acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina. 
This  task  was  ably  executed,  and  his  work  became  known  as 
"Iredell's  Revisal." 

Judge  Iredell  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  a  Federal  Union 
of  the  States,  and  when  the  Constitution  was  framed  in  1787  he 
became  one  of  the  foremost  advocates  of  its  adoption.    In  January, 


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JAMES  IREDELL  201 


1788,  he  published  an  admirable  answer  to  the  objections  made 
by  George  Mason  to  that  instrument.  This  pamphlet  of  thirty 
pages  antedated  all  but  the  earliest  papers  of  The  Federalist,  and 
it  is  not  surpassed  by  any  of  the  productions  of  Hamilton  or 
Madison. 

Being  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  which  met  at 
Hillsboro  on  July  21,  1788,  he  forcibly  urged  the  ratification  of  the 
Constitution,  and,  indeed,  was  a  leader  in  that  work,  the  burden 
of  the  argument  falling  upon  his  shoulders.  **He  defended,  he 
removed  objection,  he  persuaded,  he  appealed  to  interest  and 
awakened  into  life  the  spark  of  national  pride."  But  his  efforts 
were  in  vain;  still,  his  vigor  and  the  extent  and  variety  of  his 
attainments  excited  the  admiration  of  his  adversaries,  and  although 
he  made  few  converts  to  his  cause,  he  gained  so  many  friends 
for  himself  that  at  the  next  session  of  the  legislature,  when  Rowan 
County  was  divided,  the  new  county  was  named  in  his  honor, 
Iredell.  Further  to  advance  the  cause.  Judge  Iredell  and  General 
Davie  arranged  for  the  publication  of  the  debates  in  the  con- 
vention, and  posterity  is  indebted  to  these  two  eminent  men  for 
this  publication,  which  involved  them  in  pecuniary  loss.  Defeated 
on  this  occasion,  Judge  Iredell  redoubled  his  efforts  to  secure  the 
ratification  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  year  later  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  North  Carolina  brought  again  into  the  Union  of 
the  States.  His  reputation  had  become  so  widely  extended  that 
before  this  event  it  had  been  suggested  to  him  that  the  President 
designed  to  appoint  him  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  if  North  Carolina  should  not  come  into  the 
Union,  he  might  remove  to  Virginia,  so  that  the  appointment  could 
be  made;  and  on  February  10,  1790,  he  was  appointed  to  that 
high  office  and  unanimously  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  He  had  no 
superior  on  that  bench  during  the  time  of  his  service,  and  the 
writer  of  this  sketch  believes  that  if  his  life  had  been  spared,  he 
would  have  occupied  that  position  among  the  jurists  of  America 
which  has  been  ascribed  to  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  to  whom  he 
was  in  no  sense  inferior.  As  a  judge,  his  fame  rests  chiefly  on 
his  dissenting  opinion  in  Chisolm  v.  the  State  of  Georgia,  in  which 


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202  NORTH  CAROLINA 

he  held  the  opinion  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  court  did 
not  extend  to  a  suit  by  an  individual  against  a  sovereign  State. 
As  a  majority  of  the  court  did  not  agree  with  him  in  that  view, 
the  Constitution  was  immediately  amended  to  the  eflFect  that  the 
judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to 
extend  to  such  a  suit,  thus  establishing  Judge  Iredell's  view  as  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land.  The  constitutional  principles  laid 
down  by  him  in  this  opinion  eventually  became  the  doctrine  of 
those  who  maintained  the  rights  of  the  State  and  antagonized 
consolidation. 

In  the  summer  of  1799  his  honorable  life  was  nearly  spent.  The 
severe  labors  of  the  circuit  had  undermined  his  constitution  and 
his  health  gave  way.  He  was  unable  to  attend  the  August  term 
of  the  court,  and,  slowly  failing,  at  last  died  at  Edenton  on  the 
20th  of  October,  1799,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine  years,  and  when 
at  the  zenith  of  his  glorious  and  useful  career. 

The  marriage  of  Judge  Iredell  was  particularly  happy,  and  his 
private  life  was  beautiful.  His  correspondence  has  been  published 
by  his  biographer,  Mr.  Griffith  J.  McRee,  and  it  is  the  most  valu- 
able contribution  to  the  history  of  the  State  that  has  yet  been 
published,  unless  we  except  the  Colonial  and  State  Records. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


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CHARLES   EARL  JOHNSON 

fHARLES  EARL  JOHNSON,  one  of  the  most 
proniinent  business  men  in  the  city  of  Raleigh, 
was  born  in  Raleigh  on  the  13th  of  August, 
1851,  Mr.  Johnson  is  of  distinguished  descent. 
He  is  a  descendant  of  John  Johnston,  a  brother 
of  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  and  the  surveyor- 
^^eneral  of  the  province,  who,  about  the  year  1736,  located  in 
Onslow  County.  Samuel  Johnston,  the  eldest  son  of  the  surveyor- 
general,  was  without  question  the  most  distinguished  of  North 
Carolinians  during  his  period  of  activity — ^before  the  Revolution, 
during  the  war  for  Independence  and  subsequently  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  where  he  took  rank  among  the  greatest  and 
most  esteemed  members  of  that  body.  As  far  back  as  1773  Samuel 
Johnston  wrote  that  he  had  given  much  consideration  to  the  rcla- 
tion  of  the  colonies  to  Great  Britain,  and  he  saw  nothing  else 
to  expect  but  that  in  the  near  future  there  would  be  a  separation 
and  the  colonies  would  become  independent  States.  Samuel 
Johnston's  younger  sister,  Hannah,  became  the  wife  of  James 
Iredell,  whose  services  in  securing  the  ratification  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  by  the  State  of  North  Carolina  in 
1789  were  largely  more  effective  and  important  than  those  of  any 
other  citizen.  Appointed  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  in  1790,  he  was  undoubtedly  the 
greatest    member    of    that    body    until    his    death    in     1799. 


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204  NORTH  CAROLINA 

His  dissenting  opinion  in  the  case  where  the  State  of 
Georgia  was  sued  by  an  individual  contained  the  basic  principles 
on  which  was  founded  the  Republican  Party,  which  con- 
trolled the  United  States  from  1800  until  the  election  of  Harrison 
in  1840,  and  it  was  by  reason  of  the  observance  of  the  Constitu- 
tional principles  announced  by  him  that  the  Union  was  maintained 
during  the  early  period  of  its  existence  before  the  idea  of  national- 
ism became  incorporated  into  the  life  of  the  people.  His  son, 
James  Iredell,  governor  of  the  State,  entered  public  life  as  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1813,  and  continued  a 
representative  in  that  body  until  1819,  serving  a  few  months 
during  that  year  as  Superior  Court  judge,  and  then  returning  to 
the  House,  where  he  remained  until  1827,  when  he  became  gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  and  then  from  1828  to  1831  he  represented 
the  State  in  the  United  States  Senate.  He  was  a  man  of  the 
finest  abilities,  had  graduated  with  the  first  distinction  at  Prince- 
ton, and  was  remarkable  for  his  scholarly  attainments.  By  many 
he  was  rated  as  superior  to  his  father.  In  the  Senate  he  was  so 
highly  appreciated  that  when  it  became  desirable  to  present  the 
Southern  view  of  the  great  political  questions  in  1830,  it  was 
designated  by  his  associates  that  he  should  engage  in  the  debate 
with  Mr.  Webster,  but  as  he  unfortunately  was  prevented  from 
doing  that.  Senator  Hayne  of  South  Carolina  took  his  place  in 
that  debate. 

He  married  Frances  Lenox  Tredwell,  a  descendant  of  John 
Alden  and  Priscilla  Mullins  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  colony,  and 
their  daughter,  Frances  Lenox  Iredell,  married  Dr.  Charles  Earl 
Johnson  and  became  the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  himself  of  distinguished  lineage.  His  ancestor, 
Charles  Johnson,  it  is  said,  was  originally  a  member  of  the  great 
Johnston  family  of  the  south  of  Scotland,  of  which  the  Earl 
Annandale  was  the  head  and  of  which  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston 
was  a  member.  When  but  a  youth  he  followed  the  unfortunate 
Charles  Edward,  and  after  the  battle  of  CuUoden  escaped  to 
the  Continent,  and  out  of  precaution  dropped  the  "t"  from  his 
name.     He  subsequently  returned  to  Scotland,  and  then  spent 


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CHARLES  EARL  JOHNSON  205 

some  years  in  London  in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company. 
Later  he  removed  to  the  Albemarle  section,  where  he  married  a 
daughter  of  Rev.  Daniel  Earl.  Mr.  Earl  in  1759  had  succeeded 
Rev.  Qement  Hall  as  the  pastor  at  Edenton,  where  he  continued 
to  officiate  until  1778,  and  at  Bandon,  fifteen  miles  above  Edenton, 
established  a  school  in  which  was  taught  Latin  and  Greek  and 
the  higher  mathematics.  He  also  established  the  first  large  seine 
fishery  at  the  point  now  known  as  Avoca,  and  introduced  into  the 
Albemarle  section  that  industry  which  afterward  became  so  im- 
portant. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  a  man  of  ability  and  lofty  patriotism,  and  was 
held  in  high  esteem  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  Albemarle  region. 
In  his  political  action  he  affiliated  with  Samuel  Johnston,  Judge 
Iredell  and  Allen  Jones  and  their  friends.  He  represented  Chowan 
County  in  the  State  Senate  from  1781  to  1784  and  from  1788  to 
1792,  and  was  speaker  of  the  Senate  in  1789  at  the  same  time 
when  Governor  Johnston  presided  over  the  constitutional  con- 
vention, and  he  himself  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  ratification 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  was  representative 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1801  and  1802,  but  died 
before  the  expiration  of  his  term.  By  his  marriage  with  Miss  Earl 
he  had  one  son,  Charles  Earl  Johnson,  who  himself  represented  his 
county  in  the  Senate  from  1817  to  1820,  but  did  not  seek  a  political 
career.  He  was  a  planter,  and  was  distinguished  for  his  virtues 
and  the  elegant  culture  of  his  household.  He  married  Frances 
Taylor,  a  daughter  of  Major  Francis  Taylor,  who  had  married 
Miss  Person,  a  niece  of  General  Thomas  Person  of  Granville 
County ;  and  from  this  union  there  sprang  Dr.  Charles  E.  Johnson 
of  Raleigh. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  bom  to  affluence  and  to  a  high  social  position. 
Gifted  with  a  robust  constitution  and  rare  mental  endowments, 
he  was  from  his  early  years  a  fine  student.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  before  he  had  attained  the  age 
of  twenty-one  he  had  graduated  in  medicine  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  At  first  he  returned  to  Bertie,  his  native  county, 
where  he  practiced  until  about  1840,  when  he  moved  to  Raleigh. 


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2o6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Shortly  after  he  located  at  the  State  capital  an  epidemic  of  fever 
occurred,  and  Dr.  Johnson  gained  a  great  reputation  for  his  suc- 
cessful treatment,  and  as  years  passed,  his  reputation  in  his  pro- 
fession became  so  extended  that  he  was  commonly  esteemed  as 
being  at  the  very  head  of  his  profession.  On  the  establishment 
of  the  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum,  of  which  he  was  a  zealous 
advocate,  exerting  his  whole  influence  to  secure  the  passage  of  the 
measure  through  the  General  Assembly,  he  was  appointed  the  first 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  that  institution,  and  he 
performed  his  responsible  duties  to  the  eminent  satisfaction  of  the 
State.  His  reputation  as  a  physician  grew  as  the  years  passed, 
and  he  had  repeated  offers  to  remove  to  New  York  and  associate 
himself  with  the  famous  medical  men  in  the  metropolis.  Indeed, 
on  one  occasion  the  celebrated  Dr.  Sayer  sent  his  own  son  to 
Raleigh  to  be  treated  by  Dr.  Johnson. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  North 
Carolina  troops  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Johnson 
as  the  surgeon-general  of  the  State.  He  immediately  went  on 
duty,  selecting  and  recommending  surgeons  and  assistant  surgeons 
for  each  regiment  as  it  was  organized,  and  was  zealously  active 
in  obtaining  supplies  of  medicines  and  surgical  instruments.  He 
established  and  equipped  the  first  North  Carolina  Hospital  in 
Petersburg,  which  was  opened  for  patients  in  October,  1861,  under 
the  charge  of  Surgeon  P.  E.  Hines ;  and  early  in  1862  he  organized 
and  opened  the  second  North  Carolina  Hospital  in  Petersburg, 
with  Surgeon  W.  C.  Warren  in  charge.  Also  in  the  spring  of 
that  year  he  established  a  North  Carolina  Hospital  in  Richmond, 
with  Surgeon  O.  F.  Manson  in  charge,  and  he  established  wayside 
hospitals  at  Weldon,  Goldsboro,  Tarboro,  Raleigh,  Salisbury  and 
Charlotte.  While  surgeon-general.  Dr.  Johnson,  with  a  corps  of 
assistants,  visited  every  battlefield  in  Virginia,  taking  with  him 
medicines  and  supplies  of  every  kind  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  He  was  devoted  to  the  care,  the  relief  and  welfare  of 
the  soldiers  during  his  term  of  office,  and  his  arrangements  for 
their  comfort,  care  and  convenience  were  an  example  which  other 
States  hastened  to  follow.    In  September,  1862,  North  Carolina 


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CHARLES  EARL  JOHNSON  207 

having  turned  over  all  of  her  troops  to  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment, transferred  her  hospitals  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
also  to  the  Confederate  States.  After  the  hospitals  had  passed 
from  under  his  control,  Dr.  Johnson  felt  so  largely  relieved  of  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  his  position  as  surgeon-general  that 
he  retired,  and  upon  his  resignation  was  succeeded  by  Surgeon 
Edward  Warren. 

Of  Dr.  Johnson  it  is  to  be  said  that  as  a  man  and  citizen  he  was 
of  the  highest  excellence.  In  intelligence,  learning  and  capacity 
he  was  no  less  superior  than  in  character,  and  no  man  was  more 
highly  esteemed  for  noble  qualities  and  for  social  virtues.  In 
particular  was  he  remarkable  for  his  benevolence,  and  even  after 
his  fortune  had  been  impaired  by  the  disasters  of  the  war,  his 
charities  were  limited  only  by  his  means.  He  was  a  communicant 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  constant  in  his  attendance  on  its 
services,  and  he  was  one  of  the  most  devoted  churchmen  of  the 
diocese.  Illustrious  as  he  was  in  descent,  by  his  distinguished 
career  and  walk  in  life  he  gave  to  his  family  an  additional  title 
to  popular  regard. 

His  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  in  youth  strong  and 
robust  and  fond  of  outdoor  life  and  manly  sports.  He  was  taught 
at  Lovejoy's  celebrated  academy  at  Raleigh,  and  also  by  Rev.  Dr. 
R.  S.  Mason,  and  he  studied  both  secular  and  church  history  under 
the  direction  of  his  father.  Circumstances  prevented  him  from  re- 
ceiving a  collegiate  education,  and  on  reaching  his  seventeenth  year 
he  entered  as  a  clerk  in  the  dry  goods  store  of  W.  H.  &  R.  S. 
Tucker,  with  whom  he  remained  until  he  was  well  instructed  in 
business  and  entirely  qualified  to  enter  upon  a  career  of  his  own. 

In  1874  and  1875  he  was  assistant  secretary  of  the  Senate,  and 
at  that  time  he  was  studying  law  with  the  purpose  of  engaging 
in  the  practice  of  that  profession ;  but  his  father  dying  in  March, 
1876,  he  was  constrained  to  abandon  hopes  of  a  professional 
career  and  enter  upon  some  gainful  occupation.  He  turned  his 
attention  to  cotton,  which  at  that  time  was  the  most  important 
staple  article  in  the  trade  of  Raleigh,  and  he  soon  became  an  expert 
in  that  business.    For  one  year  he  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of 


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2o8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Lee,  Whi taker  &  Johnson,  but  in  September,  1877,  he  began  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account  under  the  firm  name  of  C.  E.  Johnson  & 
Company,  but  having  no  partner. 

At  that  time  the  cotton  marketed  at  Raleigh  was  sold  at  Nor- 
folk, Baltimore  and  New  York  for  export.  There  were  but  few 
cotton  factories  in  North  Carolina,  and  the  export  trade  was 
through  houses  doing  business  at  the  ports.  Mr.  Johnson  was 
one  of  the  first  to  see  the  advantage  of  direct  foreign  trade  on 
through  bills  of  lading  from  initial  points  of  shipment  in  the 
interior.  He  was  instrumental  in  inducing  the  railroad  com- 
panies to  issue  their  bills  of  lading  direct  from  interior  points 
to  points  of  delivery  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent,  and 
he  was  the  first  man  in  this  section  to  inaugurate  that  business. 
Having  arranged  the  details  with  the  railroad  companies,  he  went 
to  Europe  and  spent  four  months  in  making  desirable  connections 
with  the  best  importing  houses  and  in  perfecting  the  arrangements 
he  had  in  view.  He  soon  saw  the  necessity  for  establishing  com- 
presses in  the  interior,  and  he  caused  a  compress  to  be  erected 
in  Raleigh,  which  was  one  of  the  very  first  erected  at  any  interior 
point  in  the  South,  and  as  his  business  grew,  in  addition  to  the 
compress  operated  by  him  at  Raleigh  he  operated  a  much  larger 
one  in  Hamlet.  Subsequently  mills  began  to  be  erected  in  North 
Carolina,  and  the  marvelous  era  of  cotton  manufacturing  set  in 
in  this  State,  and  Mr.  Johnson  was  largely  engaged  in  supplying^ 
the  local  demand  of  the  home  mills,  but  in  addition  he  has  handled 
for  export  as  much  as  150,000  bales  per  annum.  Owing  to  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  milling  interests  during  the  past  few  years, 
nearly  all  of  the  staple  raised  in  Middle  North  Carolina,  Soutli 
Carolina  and  Georgia  is  required  for  the  home  supply,  and  rela- 
tively the  export  business  has  decreased,  but  he,  through  his 
agents,  is  still  doing  a  large  business  in  procuring  cotton  through- 
out the  adjoining  States,  not  merely  suppl3ring  in  parts  the  mills, 
but  also  continuing  his  export  business. 

The  advantage  of  the  new  methods  he  was  instrumental  in 
introducing  has  been  largely  shared  by  the  planters.  It  has 
brought  about  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  handling  cotton  between 


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CHARLES  EARL  JOHNSON  209 

the  producer  and  the  consumer  to  such  an  extent  that  whereas 
formerly  the  planter  received  only  about  2  cents  per  pound  less 
than  the  price  of  delivery  at  the  foreign  mills,  he  now  receives 
the  foreign  price  less  only  about  i  cent  per  pound,  an  increase 
benefit  to  the  planter  of  about  i^  cents  per  pound  on  his  entire 
crop. 

While  a  man  of  large  business  interests,  and  much  interested 
in  the  prosperity  of  the  people  and  of  the  city,  Mr.  Johnson  has 
never  sought  political  preferment.  Always  a  zealous  supporter 
of  the  Democratic  Party,  he  has  nevertheless  had  an  independent 
judgment  as  to  men  and  measures,  and  has  applied  the  touchstone 
of  utility  and  fitness  when  considering  either  candidates  or  policies. 
He  takes  a  comprehensive  view  of  public  matters,  and  no  one 
more  quickly  sees  through  the  arts  of  a  demagogue  or  the  inapt- 
ness  of  any  demagogical  scheme  advanced  to  catch  the  ear  of  the 
unwary. 

Mr.  Johnson  has  always  been  active  in  church  work,  and  for 
twenty  years  has  been  the  treasurer  of  the  diocese  of  North 
Carolina,  and  during  that  time  has  generally  attended  every 
diocesan  convention,  and  has  otherwise  given  a  practical  mani- 
festation of  his  zeal  and  devotion.  Before  the  establishment  of 
Rex  Hospital  at  the  old  mansion  of  Governor  Manly,  St.  John's 
Hospital  was  opened  in  that  building,  and  Mr.  Johnson  was  one 
of  the  committee  having  charge  of  the  work,  and  contributed 
largely  to  the  success  of  that  deserving  charity.  Later  it  was  dis- 
continued when  the  Rex  Hospital  was  opened.  Mr.  Johnson  has 
always  been  prominent  in  promoting  every  enterprise  that  would 
be  of  advantage  to  the  city,  and  at  the  centennial  celebration  in 
1892  he  was  active,  and  participated  earnestly  in  making  that 
celebration  one  of  the  most  glorious  events  in  the  life  of  the  city. 
For  many  years,  until  the  change  in  the  management  of  the  Sea- 
board Air  Line  Railway,  he  was  a  leading  director  in  that  com- 
pany, and  was  influential  in  the  management.  With  others,  in 
1898  he  established  the  Mechanics'  and  Dimes  Savings  Bank,  of 
which  he  has  been  the  only  president,  and  for  many  years  he  has 
been  the  vice-president  of  the  National  Bank  of  Raleigh,  and  he 


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2IO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

is  president  of  the  Raleigh  Ice  Company,  and  also  president  of  the 
Hamlet  Ice  Company,  which  was  established  for  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  ice  for  the  refrigerator  cars  coming  from  the  extreme 
South.  In  some  seasons  as  many  as  one  hundred  cars  with  peaches 
alone  are  furnished  with  ice  per  day;  and  he  is  president  of  the 
Chesterfield  Land  and  Lumber  Company,  which  owns  more  than 
25,000  acres  of  timber  lands  in  South  Carolina,  and  he  is  director 
in  various  other  companies  in  which  he  is  interested.  His  business 
as  a  cotton  exporter  and  manufacturer  and  as  a  banker  occupies 
him  closely,  and  his  success  in  every  field  in  which  he  has  operated 
is  itself  an  assurance  of  his  high  capacity  and  fine  business  qualifi- 
cations. But  it  is  not  only  as  a  business  man  that  he  excels.  His 
walk  in  life  has  won  for  him  the  entire  esteem  of  all  who  know 
him.  No  one  thrown  in  contact  with  him  can  fail  to  appreciate 
the  thorough  excellence  of  his  character,  and  he  enjoys  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  the  community  in  an  enviable  degree. 

When  Governor  Glenn  was  making  up  his  staff,  he  invited  Mr. 
Johnson  to  become  his  aide  de  camp,  and  he  now  serves  in  that 
capacity  with  the  rank  of  colonel.  This,  however,  is  not  the  full 
extent  of  Colonel  Johnson's  military  career.  About  the  close  of 
the  war,  when  he  was  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  when  General 
Joe  Johnston  was  marshalling  his  forces  to  contend  with  the  great 
army  of  General  Sherman,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  animated 
by  the  spirit  of  his  Revolutionary  sires,  enrolled  himself  as  a 
private  in  the  ranks  of  the  Confederate  army  and  went  out  to  do 
battle  for  his  country.  The  war,  however,  soon  ended,  and  his 
military  career  was  closed  without  any  protracted  experience. 

Mr.  Johnson  has  travelled  much,  and  has  been  abroad,  and  has 
availed  himself  of  his  opportunities  to  become  acquainted  with 
matters  of  interest  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent,  and  he 
has  been  broadened  by  his  large  experience.  Always  interested  in 
history,  he  has  naturally  found  pleasure  in  the  history  of  his  own 
State,  in  which  his  forefathers  were  such  conspicuous  actors.  He 
has  inherited  a  large  collection  of  manuscript  letters,  many  written 
in  colonial  days  when  this  country  was  a  part  of  the  British  King- 
dom and  before  the  rise  of  Republican  institutions;  and   for 


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CHARLES  EARL  JOHNSON 


211 


years  he  has  been  enriching  his  collection  by  constant  additions, 
with  the  purpose  of  eventually  depositing  it  with  the  State  as  a 
memorial  of  the  past. 

On  the  7th  of  December,  1876,  Mr.  Johnson  was  happily  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Ellis  Wilson  of  Charlotte,  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
Harvey  Wilson,  for  many  years  one  of  the  foremost  members  of 
the  Charlotte  bar,  and  a  gentleman  honored  and  esteemed  not 
merely  for  his  high  intellectual  endowments,  but  for  the  fine  quali- 
ties that  adorned  his  character. 

5".  A.  Ashe, 


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N 


JOHN    LAWSON 

fO  American  States  have  been  more  fortunate 
than  the  Carolinas  in  their  earliest  historians. 
Jacques  Le  Moyne  came  out  with  the  French 
Huguenot  colony  in  1562  to  Fort  Carolina,  and 
/p  V^"-gMV?  P^in^cd  ^he  South  Carolina  Indians  as  he  found 
^Q)i^)k^f^  them,  in  their  fresh,  vigorous  life,  uncontam- 
inated  and  undegenerated  by  contact  with  white  men.  John  White 
came  with  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  colony  of  1585-86  to  Roanoke 
Island,  and  there  painted  a  series  of  pictures  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Indians  which  has  become  the  basis  of  all  descriptive  works 
dealing  with  the  Indians  south  of  the  Chesapeake,  just  as 
Le  Moyne's  drawings  serve  for  those  of  the  Gulf  coast.  In  the 
same  way  Hariot,  the  companion  of  White,  gave  us  an  extended 
and  accurate  account  of  the  natural  features  of  North  Carolina 
at  the  time  of  the  first  incoming  of  the  English.  What  Hariot 
and  White  did  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Lawson  did 
for  the  same  region  and  in  the  same  way  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth.  It  is  from  White  and  Hariot  and  Lawson  that  our 
knowledge  of  the  natural  features  of  early  North  Carolina  and  its 
inhabitants  is  drawn. 

John  Lawson,  traveller  and  explorer,  surveyor,  historian  and 
humorist,  was  an  Englishman  who  signs  himself  "gentleman.'* 
He  probably  belonged  to  the  Lawsons  of  Brough  Hall,  in  York- 
shire.   Some  accounts  say  he  was  bom  in  Scotland,  but  we  know 


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JOHN  LAWSON  213 


nothing  of  his  early  life  save  what  he  tells  us  in  the  introduction 
to  his  history.  He  was  still  a  young  man  in  1700,  when  *'My 
intention  at  that  time  being  to  travel,  I  accidentally  met  with  a 
gentleman  who  had  been  abroad,  and  was  very  well  acquainted 
with  the  ways  of  living  in  both  Indies;  of  whom,  having  made 
inquiries  concerning  them,  he  assured  me  that  Carolina  was  the  best 
country  I  could  go  to,  and  that  there  then  lay  a  ship  in  the  Thames 
in  which  I  might  have  my  passage.  I  laid  hold  on  this  oppor- 
timity,  and  was  not  long  on  board  before  we  fell  down  the  river, 
and  sailed  to  Cowes.  ...  On  the  ist  day  of  May,  having  a  fair 
wind  at  east,  we  put  to  sea,  .  .  .  till  the  end  of  July,  when  the 
winds  hung  so  much  southerly  that  we  could  not  get  to  our  port, 
but  put  into  Sandy  Hook  Bay,  and  went  up  to  New  York.  .  .  . 
After  a  fortnight's  stay  here  we  put  out  from  Sandy  Hook,  and 
in  fourteen  days  after  arrived  at  Charleston,  the  metropolis  of 
South  Carolina." 

Thus  begins  Lawson's  connection  with  the  Carolinas.  He  re- 
mained in  Charleston  till  December  28,  1700,  and  then  set  out  on 
'*a  thousand  miles  travel"  through  the  Indian  country  toward 
North  Carolina.  His  party  consisted  of  six  Englishmen  and  four 
Indians.  They  ascended  the  Santee,  discharged  their  Indians, 
employed  another  as  guide  and  pack  carrier  and  struck  inland, 
wandering  in  zigzag  fashion  toward  the  north,  paddling  up  rivers 
or  wading  across  them,  pushing  over  highlands  and  morasses, 
among  savages,  serpents  and  wild  beasts.  A  large  part  of  the 
journey  was  made  along  the  great  Indian  trail  known  to  the  Vir- 
ginia traders  as  the  Occaneechi  or  Catawba  path.  Lawson  struck 
this  trail  about  where  it  crossed  the  Catawba  River,  not  far  from 
the  boundary  of  North  and  South  Carolina.  He  probably  followed 
it  to  the  modem  Hillsboro.  In  fact,  the  North  Carolina  Railroad 
from  Hillsboro,  through  Greenboro,  Salisbury  and  Charlotte  to 
the  South  Carolina  line  is  laid  out  almost  exactly  along  the  line 
of  the  trail.  Large  parts  of  this  region  were  perhaps  now  visited 
by  white  men  for  the  first  time.  Lawson  left  the  trail  at  Hills- 
boro, turned  to  the  southeast  and  followed  the  western  bank  of  the 
Neusc  until  he  crossed  to  the  northern  bank  at  the  falls,  near  the 


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214  NORTH  CAROLINA 

modem  railroad  crossing  at  Wake  Forest.  He  continued  down 
the  Neuse,  probably  passed  near  the  site  of  Goldsboro,  then  turned 
north,  crossed  the  Contentnea  near  Grifton  and  the  Tar  at  Green- 
ville and  thence  to  the  English  settlements  on  "Pampticough 
River,  in  North  Carolina,  where,  being  well  received  by  the  inhab- 
itants, and  pleased  with  the  goodness  of  the  country,  we  all  re- 
solved to  continue"   (Monday,  February  24,  1701). 

Such  was  the  introduction  of  John  Lawson  to  North  Carolina, 
That  this  young  man,  fresh  from  the  culture  of  the  Old  World, 
was  a  boon  to  the  province  there  can  be  no  doubt.  He  was  doubly 
useful  because  of  his  knowledge  of  surveying,  and  was  probably 
soon  made  a  deputy  surveyor,  for  on  April  28,  1708,  he  became 
surveyor-general.  This  office  demanded  skill,  courage,  energy, 
integrity  and  some  measure  of  learning ;  it  conferred  a  high  social 
rank,  brought  him  into  contact  with  the  leading  men  in  the  prov- 
ince and  was  the  best  possible  preparation  for  his  account  of  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country. 

We  know  little  of  his  history  apart  from  his  official  capacity, 
but  man  can  have  in  reality  little  history  except  as  he  touches 
the  careers  of  his  fellows.  All  history,  all  biography,  is  made 
up  of  social  phenomena,  and  when  man  becomes  a  hermit  he  ceases 
to  interest  his  fellows.  Lawson  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of 
Bath  in  1705,  and  as  such  was  interested  in  the  public  library 
which  Dr.  Bray  had  sent  over  to  the  village  about  1701.  He  seems 
to  have  kept  out  of  the  troubles  known  as  the  Cary  Rebellion,  and 
went  on  at  least  one  visit  to  England.  In  1709,  while  in  England, 
he  was  appointed  the  associate  of  Edward  Moseley  in  surveying 
the  boundary  between  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  Nothing 
was  done  on  this  matter  before  1710,  and  then  because  of  disputes 
over  latitude,  the  Virginians  wishing  to  come  too  far  south,  little 
was  accomplished.  While  in  England,  Lawson  became  interested 
in  De  Graffenried's  Palatines,  and  was  appointed  a  director  of  the 
colony.  He  returned  with  the  first  ships  that  brought  Palatines 
to  North  Carolina,  arriving  about  April,  171 1,  and  set  to  work 
to  locate  them  on  Neuse  River.  This  was  perhaps  his  last  im- 
portant work. 


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JOHN  LAWSON  215 


His  death  followed  hard  on  the  location  of  the  Palatines.  This 
new  settlement  meant  more  land  for  the  whites,  who  had  been 
steadily  encroaching  on  the  Indians  for  years.  The  latter  had  seen 
game  diminish,  and  found  themselves  driven  further  from  the 
coast  as  the  whites  spread  fan-shaped  into  the  interior.  Lawson's 
work  as  a  surveyor  brought  him  into  constant  contact  with  the 
Indians  and  caused  him  to  incur  their  hatred.  They  mistook  him 
for  the  cause,  while  he  was  only  an  agent,  in  despoiling  them  of 
their  lands.  The  coming  of  the  surveyor  meant  to  the  Indian 
the  nearer  approach  of  the  whites.  These  were  now  distracted 
and  broken  by  internal  dissensions,  and  in  September,  171 1,  the 
Tuscaroras  broke  out  into  open  war. 

Early  in  that  month  Lawson,  De  Graffenried  and  a  few  servants 
set  out  from  New-Bern  to  see  how  far  the  Neuse  was  navigable, 
to  explore  the  upper  country  and  to  see  if  a  new  road  could  be 
made  that  way  to  Virginia.  They  fell  in  with  a  war  party  of 
Tuscaroras  and  were  taken  to  King  Hencock's  town  of  Catechna 
(on  Contentnea  Creek,  near  the  present  Snow  Hill,  Greene 
County).  De  Graffenried  tells  us  that  it  was  at  first  determined 
to  set  them  at  liberty,  but  that  Lawson  got  into  a  quarrel  with 
a  Coree  and  they  were  then  sentenced  to  death.  The  Indians  had 
mistaken  De  Graffenried  for  Governor  Hyde,  and  he,  by  threats 
and  promises  and  by  shifting  all  blame  on  Lawson,  was  spared, 
but  Lawson  was  put  to  death.  The  method  we  are  not  sure  of, 
but  Gale  says  it  was  in  a  way  described  in  Lawson's  own  history : 
"Others  keep  their  enemies'  teeth  which  are  taken  in  war,  whilst 
others  split  the  pitch  pine  into  splinters  and  stick  them  into  the 
prisoner's  body  yet  alive.  Thus  they  light  them,  which  bum  like 
so  many  torches ;  and  in  this  manner  they  make  him  dance  round 
a  great  fire,  every  one  buffeting  and  deriding  him  till  he  expires, 
when  every  one  strives  to  get  a  bone  or  some  relic  of  this  un- 
fortunate captive." 

The  day  after  Lawson's  death  De  Graffenried  was  informed 
that  the  Indians  would  go  to  war  with  the  whites,  and  that  the 
people  on  the  Pamlico,  Neuse  and  Trent  rivers  and  on  Core  Sound 
were  the  particular  objects  of  their  enmity.    As  this  war  broke  out 


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2i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

September  22,  171 1,  we  may  take  the  20th  as  about  the  date  of 
Lawson's  death.  His  will,  dated  August  12,  1708,  is  on  file  in 
Raleigh.  He  there  speaks  of  Bath  County  as  his  home  and 
Hannah  Smith  as  his  wife ;  he  gives  her  the  house  and  lands  then 
occupied  by  them  and  one-third  of  the  personal  property.  He 
had  a  daughter  named  Isabella  and  two  or  three  other  children. 
The  record  of  his  descendants  has  been  lost. 

Such  was  the  unfortunate  end  of  one  of  the  earliest  North 
Carolina  historians.  His  historical  and  descriptive  work  was 
possibly  compiled  for  John  Stevens's  "Collections  of  Voyages  and 
Travels,"  which  was  begun  in  1708  and  finished  in  1710-11.  The 
second  of  the  series,  printed  in  1709,  is  Lawson's  "New  Voyage 
to  Carolina."  It  appeared  in  171 1  as  a  part  of  the  edition  of 
Stevens  published  that  year,  and  with  the  same  title-page.  In 
1714  and  1718  it  was  republished  under  the  title  "The  History 
of  Carolina  (London)."  There  was  a  German  edition  in  17 12, 
"Alleneuster  Beschreibung  der  Provintz  Carolina  (Hamburg)," 
and  another  in  1722.  These  were  doubtless  issued  to  encourage 
immigration,  and  perhaps  in  the  interests  of  De  Graffen- 
ried's  Palatine  colony.  The  1714  edition  was  reprinted  in  Raleigh 
in  i860,  and  again  at  Charlotte  in  1903  by  Colonel  F.  A. 
Olds.  Both  of  the  North  Carolina  reprints  are  very  poorly 
done. 

The  volume  recounts  the  travels  and  observations  of  the  author : 
"I  shall  now  proceed  to  relate  my  journey  through  the  country 
from  this  settlement  [South  Carolina]  to  the  other,  and  then  treat 
of  the  natural  history  of  Carolina,  with  other  remarkable  circum- 
stances which  I  have  met  with  during  my  eight  years'  abode  in 
that  country."  Lawson  had  had  some  scientific  training ;  no  man 
of  his  day  had  superior  or  perhaps  even  equal  opportunities  to 
learn  the  country,  and  no  one  had  a  more  accurate  or  extensive 
knowledge  than  he.  There  is  little  in  the  volume  on  personal, 
civil  or  political  matters.  It  is  not  a  history  of  the  early  settlers ; 
it  is  divided  into  three  nearly  equal  parts:  (i)  A  journal  of  a 
thousand  miles  travel;  (2)  a  description  of  North  Carolina;  and 
(3)  an  account  of  the  Indians  of  North  Carolina.    It  doubtless 


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JOHN  LAWSON  217 


partakes  of  the  nature  of  what  we  would  now  call  a  boom  publi- 
cation, but  is  a  valuable  picture  of  the  resources  and  natural 
features  of  the  country.  His  book  is  the  one  contemporary 
authority  for  that  period.  He  came  constantly  into  contact  with 
the  Indians  and  had  abundant  opportunities  for  studying  their 
life  and  customs.  These  he  has  faithfully  portrayed.  His  account 
of  the  interviews  and  intrigues  of  his  party  with  the  Indians  whcwn 
they  met  on  the  thousand  miles  journey  is  picturesque  and  amus- 
ing, and  his  observations  on  the  Indians  themselves  are  acute  and 
trustworthy.  He  has  left  us  vocabularies  of  the  Tuscarora,  Pamti- 
cough  and  Woccon  Indians,  and  gives  us  all  our  knowledge  of  the 
last  mentioned  tribe.  There  is  also  in  his  observations  at  times  a 
keen  satire.  His  natural  history  is  perhaps  more  at  fault.  He  de- 
scribes the  country  with  its  rivers  and  natural  scenery,  but  Dr. 
Curtis  has  shown  that  his  accounts  of  the  flora  of  the  country  are 
overdrawn.  He  gives  us  minute  descriptions  of  beasts,  birds  and 
fishes,  but  shows  from  his  classification  that  he  was  frequently, 
dealing  with  unknown  forms. 

In  1737  Dr.  John  Brickell  published  his  "Natural  History  of 
North  Carolina."  Sparks  sajrs  that  this  book  is  "an  almost  exact 
verbal  transcript  of  Lawson's  history,  without  acknowledgment 
on  the  part  of  the  author  or  even  a  hint  that  it  is  not  original. 
Periods  and  paragraphs  are  transposed,  parts  are  occasionally 
omitted  and  words  and  sentences  are  here  and  there  interpolated ; 
but  as  a  whole  a  more  daring  piece  of  plagiarism  was  never  exe- 
cuted." And  Field  says  it  "is  such  a  mutilated,  interpolated  and 
unscrupulous  appropriation  of  the  unfortunate  John  Lawson's 
work  of  the  same  sub-title  that  the  transcription  is  scarcely  more 
than  a  parody." 

But  these  statements  do  a  grave  injustice  to  Brickell.  He  tells 
us  that  his  work  is  a- "compendious  collection."  He  took  the  work 
of  Lawson,  reworked  it  in  his  own  fashion,  extended  or  curtailed 
and  brought  it  down  to  his  own  time.  His  work  is  more  than 
twice  as  large  as  that  of  Lawson's;  his  professional  training  is 
everywhere  patent,  and  there  is  much  in  it  relating  to  the  social 
condition  of  the  colony.    Brickell's  work  is  fuller,  more  systematic 


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2l8 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


and  more  like  the  work  of  a  professional  student ;  Lawson's  seems 
more  like  that  of  a  traveller  and  observer. 

This  sketch  is  based  on  the  material  found  in  Lawson's  work, 
in  the  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina  and  on  the  sketch  of 
Lawson  in  my  "Libraries  and  Literature  in  North  Carolina  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,"  where  the  original  authorities  will  be  found 
in  detail. 

Stephen  B.  Weeks. 


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WILLIAM    LENOIR 

[HE  county  of  Lenoir  in  the  East  and  the  town  of 
Lenoir  in  the  West  appropriately  commemorate 
the  name  of  a  patriot,  in  war  and  in  peace, 
whose  virtues  his  contemporaries  most  highly 
appreciated. 

William  Lenoir  was  born  on  the  20th  of  May, 
1 75 1,  in  Brunswick  County,  Virginia,  being  the  youngest  of  ten 
children.  He  was  of  Huguenotic  parentage.  When  about  eight 
years  of  age  his  father  located  near  Tarboro,  and  soon  afterward 
died.  Bereft  of  his  father's  care,  his  educational  advantages  were 
very  limited;  but  gifted  with  natural  intelligence,  and  animated 
by  a  spirit  to  excel,  he  acquired  through  his  personal  exertions  a 
fair  education.  When  about  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  fortu- 
nately married  to  Ann  Ballard  of  Halifax  County,  a  lady  of  very 
superior  character. 

When  the  troubles  with  the  mother  country  began,  in  1774, 
young  Lenoir  fervently  espoused  the  cause  of  the  people,  and 
joined  the  association  that  was  formed  in  the  summer  of  1774 
in  Edgecombe  County,  and  ever  afterward  was  distinguished  by 
his  patriotism.  In  March,  1775,  notwithstanding  the  depredations 
of  the  Indians  across  the  mountains,  being  resolved  to  remove 
to  the  rich  lands  of  the  Yadkin  Valley,  he  located  near  the  Mul- 
berry Field  Meeting  House,  in  Surry  County,  which  afterward 
became  the  town  of  Wilkesboro,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  which  was 
Fort  Defiance. 


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220  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  the  same  county  were  Martin  Armstrong,  Joseph  Williams, 
William  Hall,  Joseph  Winston  and  Robert  Lanier.  Benjamin 
Cleveland,  however,  was  probably  the  foremost  citizen. 

Almost  immediately  after  his  location  in  Surry,  young  Lenoir 
was  engaged  in  defending  that  frontier  settlement,  and  in  1776 
he  accompanied  General  Rutherford  in  his  expedition  against  the 
Cherokees,  and  from  that  time  onward  he  was  almost  constantly 
engaged  in  suppressing  the  Tories,  who  were  numerous  in  Surry 
and  parts  of  Rowan  County. 

When  Ferguson,  in  October,  1780,  penetrated  into  the  western 
part  of  Rowan  County,  and  the  patriots  on  the  frontier  embodied 
to  drive  him  back,  William  Lenoir  served  as  captain  under  Colonel 
Benjamin  Cleveland,  but  in  the  final  movement  he  and  his  com- 
pany officers,  obtaining  horses,  volunteered  as  privates,  and  pro- 
ceeded by  a  forced  march  with  the  mounted  men  to  bring  Ferguson 
to  bay.  In  the  battle  that  ensued  on  King's  Mountain,  where 
they  found  the  British  forces.  Captain  Lenoir  was  wounded  in 
the  arm  and  also  in  the  side,  and  a  third  ball  passed  through  his 
hair.  And  in  February,  1781,  he  was  with  Colonel  Lee  in  the 
affair  with  Colonel  Pyles  near  Haw  River,  where  he  had  his  horse 
shot  under  him  and  his  sword  was  broken  in  a  hand-and-hand 
encounter.  He  then  raised  a  company  and  sought  to  join  General 
Greene  previous  to  the  battle  of  Guilford,  but  did  not  reach  Gen- 
eral Greene's  camp  in  time  to  participate  in  that  battle.  Indeed, 
throughout  the  entire  war  he  was  an  active  and  zealous  and 
efficient  supporter  of  the  cause  of  Independence.  As  patriotic  as 
the  men  of  the  frontier  section  were,  General  Lenoir  himself  has 
left  a  record  of  the  equal  patriotism  of  the  women.  In  describing 
them  he  has  said:  "It  was  their  heroic  conduct  that  inspired  their 
husbands  and  sons  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  They  urged  the  men 
to  leave  home  and  to  prefer  to  die  rather  than  be  slaves." 

After  the  war  General  Lenoir  continued  in  the  military  service 
of  the  State,  and  for  eighteen  years  was  major-general  of  the 
militia. 

In  a  civil  capacity  General  Lenoir  also  discharged  many  high 
and  responsible  duties.    Appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace  by  the 


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WILLIAM  LENOIR  221 

convention  that  framed  the  State  constitution,  he  continued  as 
such  for  sixty-two  years,  his  service  in  that  capacity  being  with- 
out question  the  longest  in  the  annals  of  this  country.  He  also 
filled  at  different  periods  the  office  of  register,  surveyor,  chairman 
of  the  county  court  and  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  for  the  county 
of  Wilkes.  He  served  many  years  in  both  branches  of  the  State 
legislature,  and  the  last  five  years  of  his  service  in  the  Senate  he 
was  speaker  of  that  body.  He  was  president  of  the  Council  of 
State  and  was  a  member  of  the  convention  of  1788  that  rejected 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  of  1789  that  adopted  it.  In  both 
these  conventions  he  took  an  active  and  distinguished  part,  insist- 
ing strenuously  on  the  necessity  of  requiring  certain  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  to  guard  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  State. 
He  was  one  of  the  original  trustees  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  and  for  two  years  was  president  of  the  Board,  being 
the  first  citizen  to  hold  that  eminent  position.  In  private  life 
General  Lenoir  was  as  distinguished  for  his  moral  worth  and 
generous  hospitality  as  in  public  life  he  was  esteemed  for  his 
unbending  integrity,  firmness,  patriotism  and  intelligence.  No  one 
surpassed  him  in  kindly  disposition  and  in  deeds  of  charity.  Suc- 
cessful in  his  efforts  to  provide  a  competency  for  his  family,  by  his 
will  he  made  liberal  provisions  for  the  poor  of  his  neighborhood. 
Indeed,  no  man  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina  was  more  highly 
esteemed  for  his  virtues  and  worth  and  high  character  than  Gen- 
eral Lenoir.  To  him  was  accorded  not  merely  length  of  days, 
but  almost  uninterrupted  health,  and  it  is  narrated  that  at  the  age 
of  eighty-eight  years  he  rode  on  horseback  fifty  miles  to  attend 
the  Superior  Court  of  Ashe  County,  crossing  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
also  attended  the  court  of  his  own  county,  a  distance  of  twenty- 
four  miles  from  his  residence. 

Dying  on  the  6th  of  May,  1839,  his  remains  were  interred  in  his 
family  burying  ground,  which  occupies  the  spot  where  Fort  De- 
fiance was  erected  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 

5.  A,  Ashe. 


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JOHN    VAN    LINDLEY 


fUST  outside  the  limits  of  Greensboro  are  the 
Pomona  Nurseries,  now  a  household  word 
throughout  the  State  wherever  fruits  and 
flowers  are  prized;  and  there,  in  the  midst  of 
orchards  and  greenhouses,  is  set  the  home  of 
John  Van  Lindley,  so  well  known  as  a  leader 
among  the  progressive  and  public-spirited  men  of  that  section  of 
North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Lindley  is  of  old  English  stock,  his  ancestors  coming  to 
North  Carolina  from  England  by  the  way  of  Ireland  and  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Thomas  Lindley,  his  father's  grandfather,  with  his  wife,  Sarah 
Evans,  who  was  of  Welch  descent,  was  the  first  of  the  family  to 
come  to  North  Carolina,  settling  here  in  1748,  and  although  Mr. 
Lindley  is  not  a  native  of  this  State,  having  been  born  in  Mon- 
rovia, Morgan  County,  Indiana,  November  5,  1838,  the  accident 
of  birth  was  speedily  remedied  by  his  return  with  his  parents, 
when  only  three  years  old,  to  his  father's  former  home  in  Chatham 
County,  where  a  few  years  later  his  mother,  Judith  Henly,  died, 
leaving  him  a  boy  of  only  eight  years  of  age.  His  father,  Joshua 
Lindley,  was  a  fruit  grower  and  nurseryman,  and  young  John 
grew  up  on  the  fruit  farm,  and  all  his  life  has  been  practically 
engaged  in  rearing  trees,  and  has  thus  been  enabled  to  give  to  this 
vocation  the  experience  garnered  through  youth  and  matured 


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i^/^^ 


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^T- — jv  r.   r-:*,  ^^ 


xr- 


JOHN    VAX    LINDLEV 

\^^y^^Jl-  >^    niitsi(^c  liit^   liniils  of  Cirocnslujro  are  the 
ii.._-J.-^*^^    ionioiv     >  rrscrics,    now    a    lioiisehold    worj 
T       ^*CS   thnnijh.  '  i     the     State     wherever    fruits    ?\\\ 
J       l"^t')    llc.'Ai!..  are  pri^(  d ;  and  there,  m  the  midst  of 
i'  '/:• 'M'-N  and  ^rocnhoiisos,  is  set  tlie  home  of 
I   i  n  \",in  Lindley,  so  well  known  as  a  leader 
>i\e  and  jmhHc-spiritcd  mtii  of  that  section  of 


N.rr;,  Laro]:'i:» 


•Ill  (' 


-  of  old  lu:.^'ish  sSt^K'k,  Ills  ancestors  comini;  to 
ironi  luiLfland  hv  the  wav  of  lrelan<l  and  l\nin- 


r  'x 


.  I.,  jdlcy,  his  father's  ;^ra;idfathei,  with  his  wife,  Saraii 
»  .  ■  u .'!'=;  of  Welch  descent,  was  the  urst  of  the  fanniy  to 
'^irh  (Am'lina.  ^citlinu:  here  in  17.:."^,  and  although  Mr. 
n«tt  a  native  of  this  St;Jv\  ii-^vJ!!.:^  been  born  in  Mon- 
•^r^aa  County,  In. liana.  November  5.  i8^^8,  the  accident 
('»  ".1  was  s|Keciil\  reni.\]iod  by  his  return  wit!rhis  parents. 
•'.  •  '  n  i»:!lv  thr^o  ^  ^  nrs  old,  to  his  fatIuT*s  formt  r  home  in  Chathan. 
'  inity.  wiuTc  a  ff^w  year>  hxt'-r  his  niothcr,  Judith  Ilenly,  nit-  . 
•!.;.\in!L;  bi:n  i>  ^  vy  of  only  c]\i]i^  ye-irs  of  a.i::e.  His  father,  Ju-'^-uri 
l.iudifN,  w^N  a  fru'f  thrower  au'l  nnrsrrsniau,  and  vt^unj;  I.mu 
j^rew  up  on  the  fruit  farm,  and  all  his  life  has  been  practically 
rut::i£r*'d  in  rearlnpf  trees,  and  has  thus  been  enabled  to  crive  to  tb.i^ 
vocation    the   experience   j.  jrnered   through   \outh   and   matured 


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olL. 


^ 


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A?^^ 


\/' 


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JOHN  VAN  LINDLEY  223 

years.  This  doubtless  has  been  the  foundation  of  his  remarkable 
success  in  a  sphere  where  many  others  have  failed.  Though  slight 
in  frame  and  delicate  in  appearance  as  a  boy,  he  had  stamina,  and 
the  manual  labor  of  his  farm  life  tended  to  strengthen  his  consti- 
tution. Of  his  proficiency  as  a  workman  in  those  early  days  he 
was  very  proud,  and  he  still  finds  pleasure  in  recalling  that  he 
split  800  rails  the  last  day  he  used  a  maul. 

Joshua  Lindley  with  his  family  moved  from  Chatham  to  New 
Garden,  in  Guilford  County,  in  1851,  and  continued  there  the 
nursery  business. 

Close  application  to  his  occupations  left  him  little  opportunity 
for  study,  and  one  year  at  the  New  Garden  School  completed  the 
limited  college  course  for  which  he  had  leisure,  outside  of  the 
lessons  in  pomology  and  horticulture  learned  in  farm  and  garden. 
Toward  these  pursuits  both  natural  and  inherited  tendency  led 
him,  and  he  threw  himself  into  them  with  all  the  ardor  and  earnest- 
ness which  have  been  his  characteristics  through  life.  Soon  after 
arriving  at  manhood  the  war  between  the  States  broke  out,  and 
Lincoln's  call  for  troops  forced  every  Southern  man  to  make 
decision  as  to  the  side  with  which  his  sympathies  lay.  Mr.  Lindley 
chose  to  espouse  the  Northern  cause,  and  although  of  Quaker 
parentage,  both  father  and  mother  being  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  he  fought  bravely  for  three  years  as  a  private  in  the 
regular  cavalry  of  Missouri,  in  the  Federal  army. 

Returning  at  the  close  of  the  war  to  his  old  home,  he  was  re- 
ceived with  open  arms  and  unchanged  affections  by  those  old 
friends  who  had  stood  loyally  to  their  State  in  the  struggle. 

His  father  had  remained  at  home,  and  was,  like  every  other 
Southern  planter  at  this  period,  much  impoverished,  and  his  son 
found  him  owing  $5000,  indebtedness  incurred  during  the  war. 

In  1866.  soon  after  the  war,  New  Garden  Nursery,  known  as 
Joshua  Lindley  &  Son,  was  re-established,  and  so  well  did  the 
undertaking  prosper,  that  in  ten  years,  his  object  being  accom- 
plished, and  his  father's  estate  cleared  of  debt,  Mr.  John  V.  Lindley 
was  in  a  condition  to  begin  life  for  himself,  and  was  in  future 
able  to  devote  his  energies  to  the  building  up  of  his  own  fortune. 


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224  NORTH  CAROLINA 

When  a  young  man  he  had  travelled  widely  in  the  Western 
States  and  visited  many  parts  of  the  Union,  seeking  the  locality 
in  which  a  poor  man  might  best  make  his  home  and  fortune,  and 
had  returned  to  North  Carolina  convinced  that  here  was  the  best 
place  possible  for  that  purpose. 

In  1877  he  began  business  as  sole  proprietor  of  the  Pomona 
Nursery,  without  other  capital  than  the  stock  of  good  credit  which 
comes  from  a  long  continued  course  of  care,  promptness  and 
honorable  dealing ;  and  this  good  credit  proved  most  useful  when, 
two  years  later,  unexpected  opposition  rose,  and  a  combination 
was  formed  against  him,  to  meet  which  it  was  necessary  to  in- 
crease his  funds  and  enlarge  his  business.  He  borrowed  money 
without  difficulty,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  wound  up  with  a 
larger  trade  and  a  heavier  balance  in  his  favor  than  ever.  He 
did  more ;  not  only  had  he  met  the  opposition  and  won  the  victory, 
but  he  had  met  the  enemy  and  won  them  as  friends.  Since  their 
establishment,  nearly  forty  years  ago,  the  Pomona  Nurseries  have 
steadily  grown,  and  have  developed  into  the  leading  nurseries  and 
cut-flower  business  of  the  State  and  of  the  South,  giving  employ- 
ment to  a  multitude  of  salesmen  and  nurserymen  and  bringing  to 
their  owner  a  fine  income  and  an  ever-increasing  capital. 

But  it  is  not  only  as  a  successful  horticulturist  that  Mr.  Lindley  is 
known  and  respected;  he  is  also  one  of  the  most  public  spirited 
of  men,  and  is  in  the  forefront  wherever  zeal  and  intelligent  energy 
are  needed  or  a  leader  required  in  eflForts  to  further  the  interests 
of  State  or  county. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  his  affiliations  were  with  the  Republican 
Party,  then  the  dominant  power  in  the  Union,  glorying  in  the  fact 
that  through  its  policy  the  war  had  been  begun,  carried  on  and 
brought  to  a  successful  close.  But  the  moment  the  ballot  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  negroes  Mr.  Lindley  withdrew  from  that 
party  and  ranged  himself  with  the  whites  of  the  State,  and  has 
continued  a  Democrat  ever  since,  joining  heartily  with  his  neigh- 
bors in  every  plan  for  the  betterment  of  the  country. 

He  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  organizing  the  Central 
Carolina  Fair  Association,  was  its  first  president,  remaining  so 


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JOHN  VAN  LINDLEY  225 

until  the  fair,  which  has  proved  so  great  a  factor  in  the  industrial 
development  of  Greensboro  and  the  vicinity,  was  established  on  a 
secure  and  permanent  basis. 

Mr.  Lindley  has  ever  been  a  leader  in  all  educational  movements, 
whether  promoted  by  his  own  church  organization,  by  other  sec- 
tarian bodies  or  by  the  public  at  large.  For  the  last  twenty  years 
he  has  been  a  trustee  of  Guilford  College,  and  has  contributed 
handsomely  toward  assisting  in  relieving  that  institution  of  a  large 
indebtedness,  and  then  also  was  one  of  the  largest  contributors 
toward  a  permanent  endowment  fund. 

Some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  Mr.  Lindley  built,  at  his  own 
expense,  a  commodious  public  school  building  in  his  neighborhood 
for  the  benefit  of  the  residents  of  that  section,  and  some  two  or 
three  years  ago  contributed  $1000  for  the  erection  of  public  schools 
throughout  Guilford  County,  which  was  the  beginning  of  a  con- 
certed movement  for  excellent  public  schools,  in  which  Guilford 
County  now  takes  the  lead. 

Mr.  Lindley  has  shown  an  equal  zeal  and  interest  in  the  pro- 
motion of  good  roads,  and,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  members 
of  the  Guilford  County  Road  Association,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent, and  of  other  public  spirited  citizens,  he  urged  successfully 
upon  the  people  of  the  county  the  appropriation  of  $300,000  for 
the  improvement  of  their  roads.  Besides  these  enterprises  for  the 
public  good,  Mr.  Lindley's  name  is  connected  with  many  and 
varied  interests  which  have  aided  materially  in  the  prosperity  of 
Greensboro  and  that  part  of  the  State.  Mr.  Lindley  is  president 
of  the  Underwriters'  Fire  Isurance  Company,  Greensboro,  and  of 
the  Security  Life  and  Annuity  Company  of  Greensboro,  and  is 
president  of  the  J.  \'an  Lindley  Nursery  Company,  of  the  J.  Van 
Lindley  Orchard  Company  of  Southern  Pines  and  of  the  Pomona 
Terra  Cotta  Company,  and  vice-president  of  the  City  National 
Bank,  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  and  of  the  State  Horticultural 
Association.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Southern  Loan  and  Trust 
Company,  of  the  Vanstory  Clothing  Company,  Gate  City  Furni- 
ture Company,  Greensboro  Table  and  Mantel  Company,  Odell 
Hardware  Company,  Southern  Stock  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Com- 


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226  NORTH  CAROLINA 

pany,  Mount  Airy  Granite  Company,  Home  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pany, Southern  Underwriters'  Fire  Insurance  Company  and  of 
the  Pomona  Cotton  Mill  Company. 

Of  all  the  enterprises  which  Mr.  Lindley  has  undertaken  and 
carried  to  success  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  State,  he  is  proudest 
of  the  organization  and  successful  development  of  the  Security 
Life  and  Annuity  Company,  the  pioneer  legal  reserve  life  in- 
surance company  in  North  Carolina.  He  feels  that  the  success 
of  this  home  company  has  given  an  impetus  to  the  establishment 
and  growth  of  safe  legal  reserve  life  insurance  companies  in  this 
State  and  the  South.  These  companies  will  keep  at  home  millions 
of  dollars  that  are  now  going  North  for  life  insurance.  This  he 
regards  as  one  of  the  greatest  needs  in  the  development  of  his 
own  State  and  of  the  South. 

In  1889  Mr.  A.  M.  Smith  of  New  York  came  to  Guilf<Jrd 
County  and  interested  Mr.  Lindley  in  a  terra-cotta  plant,  which 
was  established  and  operated  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Smith 
at  a  loss  for  one  year.  Mr.  Lindley,  with  his  usual  foresight  and 
good  business  judgment,  prompted  by  inherent  ambition  to  suc- 
ceeded in  whatever  he  undertook,  bought  the  plant  in  1890  and 
equipped  it  with  the  best  machinery  that  could  be  purchased.  In 
three  years  he  had  made  such  a  gratifying  success  of  it  that  he 
doubled  the  capacity  of  the  plant  and  began  the  manufacture  of 
sewer  pipes,  drain  tiles,  fire  brick  and  chimney  flues.  The  Pomona 
Terra  Cotta  Works  now  have  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  cars  per  month,  and  cannot  supply  the  demand. 

Mr.  Lindley  is  one  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  North 
Carolina  Agricultural  Society,  and  is  stockholder  in  many  other 
industrial  organizations. 

He  is  thus  interested  in  many  enterprises  of  importance,  and 
his  name  is  identified  with  every  undertaking  that  conduces  in 
any  way  to  the  growth  in  prosperity  and  in  the  material  and 
intellectual  advancement  of  the  community  in  which  he  lives. 

Yet  among  his  multifarious  interests,  first  in  his  heart  are  ever 
the  nurseries.  At  Pomona,  900  acres  in  one  block  are  devoted  to 
trees  and  young  plants,  and  there  are  eleven  greenhouses  for 


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JOHN  VAN  LINDLEY  227 

flowers;  also  350  acres  in  nursery  at  Kernersville,  North  Caro- 
lina, a  branch  nursery  started  in  the  spring  of  1904,  while  at 
Southern  Pines  and  at  other  points  he  has  large  orchards.  Still 
he  finds  time  to  attend  national  and  local  meetings  of  horticultur- 
ists and  pomologists,  and  he  has  been  prominent  in  making  the 
fight  against  the  disease  that  threaten  the  gardens. 

Withal,  he  is  quiet  and  unassuming,  prompt  and  careful ;  indeed, 
he  attributes  his  success  in  life  to  his  careful  attention  to  every 
detail  of  his  varied  business,  and  he  finds  great  g^tification  in  the 
fact  that  he  has  been  able  to  promote  the  progress  and  welfare 
of  that  section  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives  as  well  as  the 
State  at  large. 

George  A.  Grimsley. 


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WILLIAM    LITTLE 


•  ILLIAM  LITTLE)  His  Majesty's  chief  justice 
for  the  colony  of  North  Carolina,  was  bom  at 
Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  on  the  27th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1692.  He  was  a  son  of  Isaac  Little,  bom 
1646,  who  resided  at  Marshfield,  and  whose 
father,  Thomas  Little,  was  living  in  Plymouth, 
Massachusetts,  as  early  as  1630.  The  wife  of  Thomas  Little  was 
Anne  Warren,  daughter  of  Richard  Warren,  one  of  the  May- 
flower passengers. 

William  Little  was  given  every  educational  advantage,  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  He  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  the 
class  of  1 7 10.  Soon  thereafter,  when  only  nineteen  years  of  age, 
his  first  marriage  took  place,  and  he  was  left  a  widower  without 
children  at  the  age  of  twenty.  Not  long  after  this  he  spent  some 
time  in  Ireland,  and  there  became  a  convert  to  the  Church  of 
England,  being  baptized  and  confirmed  by  the  Bishop  of  Cork. 
From  Ireland  he  went  to  England,  and  engaged  in  study  at  the 
University  of  Cambridge.  In  England  he  formed  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  old  Yorkshire  family  of  Gale  (into  which  he  was 
destined  to  marry  at  a  later  date),  and  he  came  to  North  Carolina 
at  the  suggestion  of  Chief  Justice  Christopher  Gale,  who  was 
then  on  a  visit  to  England.  For  an  account  of  Gale,  the  reader 
is  referred  to  a  sketch  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work. 
Mr.  Little  made  his  home  in  the  town  of  Edenton  after  he  came 


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WILLIAM  LITTLE  229 

to  North  Carolina.  On  the  2d  of  April,  1724,  he  took  the  oath 
of  office  as  attorney-general  of  the  colony.  This  was  during  the 
first  administration  of  Governor  George  Burrington.  Shortly 
after  this  Burrington  was  removed  from  office,  chiefly  through 
the  efforts  of  Gale ;  and  while  Gale  was  absent  in  England,  Thomas 
Boyd  acted  as  attorney-general  in  the  place  of  Little.  Whea 
Sir  Richard  Everard  appeared  in  North  Carolina  as  successor  to 
Governor  Burrington,  he  brought  with  him  a  new  commission 
as  attorney-general  for  Little,  who  accordingly  resumed  his 
duties.  Mr.  Little  also  became  receiver-general  of  the  colony  on 
the  19th  of  July,  1726,  and  held  the  two  offices  jointly.  On  the 
2is<  of  February,  1728,  Governor  Everard  appointed  Christopher 
Gale,  William  Little,  John  Lovick  and  Edward  Moseley  to  run 
the  boundary  between  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  In  his 
"History  of  the  Dividing  Line,"  Colonel  William  Byrd  of  West- 
over  (one  of  the  Virginia  commissioners)  speaks  of  the  chaplain 
of  the  party  going  to  Edenton,  and  observes:  "He  was  accom- 
pany'd  thither  by  Mr.  Little,  one  of  the  Carolina  commissioners, 
who,  to  shew  his  regard  for  the  Church,  offer'd  to  treat  Him  on 
the  Road  with  a  Fricasee  of  Rum.  .  .  .  Most  of  the  Rum  they  get 
in  this  country  comes  from  New  England,  and  is  so  bad  and 
unwholesome  that  it  is  not  improperly  call'd  'Kill  Devil.' " 

In  the  politics  of  his  day  Mr.  Little  seems  to  have  been  quite 
favorably  disposed  toward  the  Stuart  family,  and  was  said  to  be 
"notoriously  disaffected  to  the  illustrious  house  of  Hanover." 
Burrington,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  close  connection  of  Major 
Charles  Burrington,  whom  English  historians  mention  as  the 
first  person  of  any  consideration  who  adhered  to  William  of 
Orange  when  that  prince  invaded  England.  Notwithstanding  this 
difference  in  politics,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  had 
not  been  on  good  terms  formerly,  Burrington,  when  royal  gov- 
ernor, on  his  quarrel  with  Chief  Justice  Smith,  appointed  Mr. 
Little  to  the  office  of  chief  justice  of  the  province,  and  the  latter 
was  sworn  in  as  such  on  the  i8th  of  October,  1732. 

During  his  term  as  chief  justice,  Mr.  Little  was  involved  in 
many  of  the  fierce  disputes  of  that  day,  which  originated  in  politi- 


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230  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cal  animosities,  and  on  one  occasion  was  imprisoned  by  the 
Assembly  for  contempt  expressed  in  a  reply  to  some  charges  pre- 
ferred against  him  by  that  body.  On  hearing  of  this  occurrence 
Governor  Burrington  released  the  chief  justice  and  roundly  abused 
the  Assembly  for  its  action. 

Chief  Justice  Little  married  his  second  wife,  Pendope  Gale, 
daughter  of  Chief  Justice  Gale,  in  1726.  By  her  he  had  three 
children,  as  follows:  Penelope,  who  married  Robert  Baker; 
William,  who  removed  to  the  Cheraw  district  in  South  Carolina 
and  died  before  the  Revolution  in  1766;  he  married  first  Miss 
Kimbrough  and  second  Catherine  Stuart;  George,  who  married 
Mary  Anne  Person,  daughter  of  William  Person,  and  sister  of  the 
Revolutionary  patriot.  General  Thomas  Person. 

George  Little,  the  last-named  son  of  Chief  Justice  Little,  was 
born  in  1731,  and  resided  in  Hertford  County,  formerly  part  of 
his  native  county  of  Chowan.  In  the  Revolution  he  was  major 
of  the  Hertford  County  militia,  justice  of  the  Court  of  Pleas  and 
Quarter  Sessions,  member  of  committee  to  procure  arms  and 
ammunition  for  the  Continental  army,  etc.  He  left  a  son,  William 
Person  Little,  a  wealthy  planter  and  State  senator,  from  whose 
country  seat,  Littleton,  the  town  of  Littleton,  in  Halifax  County, 
takes  its  name.  This  gentleman  married  Anne  Hawkins  (daugh- 
ter of  the  Revolutionary  patriot,  Colonel  Philemon  Hawkins,  Jr.), 
and  left,  among  other  children,  the  late  Colonel  George  Little  of 
Raleigh,  who  was  an  aide  de  camp  to  Governor  Vance  during 
the  war  between  the  States. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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JHE  NEW  yoRir 

4 


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JAMF.S    ANOlJi^' •  ^ 

(,  >  pel  iti'l  (»t  '''i-  li's'.  ' .      < 
■  r'  :i"  re  n  ^^  '.<.".''   it   •• 
J,'  .vc  l»)  tlic  \s<  rj'.  ;;  »    • 

vttJiif.  jmifi         ii   aJ'l   itri<ti..^'ii   .'.••.-.►'     •     . 
•■    it^  ;:.   i;    ii.iM*  ('<'•»  r,.<'i   :»;.«!   l,  :        '   ..   ! 
•..i  (Mi/j-  :t  s  .  l'>'i.;  as  lii.io  sli;-'!  \-\ 

i  \['     .1     •   •'     Mlv  h     !  "'.  II     \\   i>     I  . 
.  '•  [  '    P  <  cm:*  /.  In:  i.,is  ?;>♦••■!   li:>  '  Ji     .  •     '  .    ' 
:'     u  '.   1   0  -  I    '  :  K;i:i  \i  j.  I     :'.  .•.   • 

i     '.'.   \'  '..!'•  :  s.  V.  .'  .  .'  ".-  r;  f  u  ".(■•     '.  i '  -1  -■  -p.  \  ■     .'•.      : 
•','  .  t-r    w.'i^     i  i  ^- . ,     \'';i^'vi\^,    f  •:    i.     ly    \v-..:s    ;1k'  .' 
<      /'IN        1  .'  !  '  -^   .••♦    !   J.  I  in  i  *  •' ■;.  r    >.  'ki-    v\  t     ^ ''ir.'-  r 
':•   '.   :''.!-•..<•      ').    p;''"'.[c   \.'A\\    ii   .."r..ui\'"(       i"   «;     - 
I    .'"    ■  !    rli;i  ..   t'i.    .-'I'  i^j-    I.  •  I'.i'    ••.!r!;.'\« '11.    ;i- ^1 
''  ••     ''  '•     t'    -if     ^  .  r  :.    '!•   -S!  *-  ^    :•:.  *    !  )■*  \    vV ; ..  't  -•  i    . 
I    •-    i'   t-l'.l     l-*'^    '':.--   ::•  :io.-.-l'(;i   t(     iro'^  "  .  '• -r;     •. 


.    I  rn.     .     t  • 


I   j;  ;i!'  I   \    ;  'i'.    :« •    •  .ii:  •  . 


i  c'  nf>  •;?.;■,  rr.^ii  a 


.i\    !!''>: .\i  a- 


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JAMKS    ANDKUSoN     i  ■         . 

C  >  [>r) !( wi  (if  '^c  bist«  ry      i" 
S.    m-  re  n  s|  Icn-Unt  f.   •• 

1'  ^  a]-\    t"   tlic'.r   Sta*'  .   . 

li<  c':.'  \     rp.'U    0V(  ry    t|.,  ;.• 
fjiv    I:  '-ir    d'JM     c:^ !!■•''.     liv  •- 

1*^   ^.   1/  lia\c  0''  t  I  »   '1  :m.<1  i^  .'!  •  !  .1  !  . 
•   ;  c'l  J    u   s..  /-fM;  as  ii.:;v  sh.j'.l  Vi-t. 
.'••;•.  I    I  !    ^';«  !i    !  •'.  n    waN    I:i'    •  *^    .\  .•  •  .       •    . 

-     :  <     '•*:'/.  b^"  *'"'^  ^l*'  •'-  1^"''^  ^-'^   't  *''•'  -  •' 
V,  1^   i"  '-^  -'  •.  <  •!    I'-iti  't   j.  I  ..  :'C  ai.<l    • .  .. 
ii  '.r<    .;       ;..\   <•''  Ma\ .   I.'"  ; '       1 ':-   ^  •  .  . 
'/ \.- 'I  ^.  V.  -.*'. 'i^  a  f. .::■.«*•-  -'i  T'-'i  ^  '11  V         'i.  ,  i 
.   ■»     a:  '^    ♦  •'  .••  ,^     \'>'a'H>rs,    f  t   ti  "i  y    \  c-.  ;s    >1k'".*"     ., 
"  ;\       1  .'  •  •  •    ;  p.l   L'i  iM  i:  "ikr    i'ikc   v\  .  r     •  '  ir.trr  . 

.,••':<.,<        '   .'   r:-!/.re   \.:tb.    an    .i^ii'.a.--       .;    C- /!!•':     . 
•'     'f    t  iKi       I' r.    '':'!\^    iiTi  'al    «  •ir-';  .•\<-'<l .    a:al    \'i'.    'i 

■'.•;      •    ''■     '•'';.    .i.--tiP"'<    ail':    Im-m     I'l' i  a  .ti<;M    \\'  ■.  i 
•     \    T.'.'-l     1  '  ^ '1   **    ^"^   'j'";u'r:'t'(  p.   t«     ;;( -i  ••ii'"n   in   t'  •     ' 
!■     .\'^    1    ••■  :  a-  .  :i  ;.'':. -r-l  ir  <*. 
. .  1    •  'i    V  ..  •  ♦  t!  V  c  .r' »   :•■.  f  *  1'  •!.  .  ►:*  ';\  '' .     i"  '  II  t^io  :  •■■' 

,:n.  ,;  •'■  .   '   ss- .!',  ,  of   l!''i'j'i   \    ;«•'''    I'      •  liilv,  iiiiJ    . 
\-  •  r'  \h:     ;    .>ii  1  •:' « -f^.   :i  y,  aivi  a   !'•  .Mi;    i!'o:al  a*;'  t- 


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'J 


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JAMES    ANDERSON    LONG 

^O  period  of  the  history  of  North  Carolina  will 
be  more  resplendent  than  the  era  of  1861.  It 
gave  to  the  world  a  race  of  men  illustrious  for 
loyalty  to  their  State,  courage,  fortitude  and 
fidelity  upon  every  theatre  of  action  to  which 
their  duty  called  them — ^men  who  for  their 
valor,  pruritfsj^m  and  unselfish  devotion  to  the  State  and  pride 
in  its  glory  have  deserved  and  gained  a  name  and  fame  which 
shall  endure  so  long  as  time  shall  last. 

Typical  of  such  men  was  James  Anderson  Long.  Born  in 
Person  County,  he  has  spent  his  life  amongst  its  hills  and  valleys. 
He  was  the  son  of  Ratliff  J.  Long  and  Mary  Walters,  and  was 
bom  on  the  23d  day  of  May,  1841.  His  great-grandfather  was 
Paul  Walters,  who  was  a  farmer  in  Person  County,  and  his  grand-i 
father  was  Hardy  Walters,  for  many  years  sheriff  of  Person 
County.  Father  and  grandfather  alike  were  planters,  simple  in 
taste,  endowed  by  nature  with  an  abundance  of  common  sense, 
force  of  character,  strong  mental  equipment,  and  with  a  pre- 
dominance of  moral  instincts  and  lofty  patriotism  which  have 
been  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  in  the  family 
and  to  Mr.  Long  as  an  inheritance. 

Mr.  Long  .<ipent  the  early  portion  of  his  life  upon  the  farm,  ana 
here  learned  the  lessons  of  industry  and  frugality,  and  acquired 
habits  of  thrift  and  economy,  and  a  healthy  moral  and  physical 


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232  NORTH  CAROLINA 

nature,  which  has  added  zest  to  the  struggle  and  victory  which 
has  been  his  portion  in  life.  At  the  age  when  he  should  have 
been  in  school,  the  call  of  his  country  and  State  was  strong  and 
irresistible,  and  he  left  the  plow  in  its  furrow  and  took  up  the 
defense  of  her  honor  and  glory.  He  had  worked  upon  the  farm 
until  he  entered  the  army  in  May,  1862;  hence  his  educational 
advantages  were  limited  to  such  only  as  could  be  had  in  the 
country  public  schools,  often  called  the  old  field  schools.  And 
yet  Mr.  Long,  surmounting  every  obstacle,  has  educated  himself 
in  the  school  of  life.  With  an  inquiring  and  comprehensive  mind, 
original  and  receptive,  he  has  acquainted  himself  with  the  history 
of  events  of  the  past  and  the  lives  of  great  men  who  have  made 
them  possible;  has  kept  pace  with  the  developments  of  his  day, 
and  has  trained  his  mind  for  usefulness  in  whatsoever  field  his 
endeavors  should  lead  him.  His  judgment  is  almost  unerring, 
and  his  counsel  has  been  sought  by  those  who  were  perplexed  in 
private  and  public  life.  Verily,  he  has  educated  himself,  not  under 
the  drill  of  the  pedant,  in  the  language  that  is  dead,  but  by  solving 
the  problems  one  by  one  as  they  came  to  him  in  life,  by  constant 
and  unremitting  toil  and  effort,  and  by  making  all  things,  what- 
soever were  useful,  true,  noble  and  good,  a  part  of  his  life  and 
character. 

He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  and  saw  hard  service, 
entering  the  army  in  May,  1862.  He  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Seven  Pines  and  Sharpsburg  with  great  credit  to  himself.  At 
Plymouth  his  conduct  on  the  skirmish  line  attracted  the  favorable 
commendation  of  officers  and  men.  He  was  at  Petersburg  when 
it  was  attacked  by  Butler;  was  at  Bermuda  Hundreds,  and  was 
taken  prisoner  on  the  25th  of  March,  1865,  at  Fort  Steadman, 
in  front  of  Petersburg,  and  imprisoned  at  Point  Lookout  until 
July,  1865.  In  1863  he  was  made  orderly  sergeant  of  Company  H, 
Twenty-fourth  Regiment,  North  Carolina  troops.  He  was  a  brave 
soldier,  loyal,  fearless  and  strong  in  his  patriotic  devotion  to  the 
cause  for  which  he  fought;  he  was  indiflFerent  to  danger,  cool, 
resolute  and  reserved — the  type  of  men  so  characteristic  of  the 
armies  of  Lee  and  Jackson,  and  which  gave  to  them  their  great 


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JAMES  ANDERSON  LONG  233 

glory  of  achievement.  Just  two  weeks  before  his  return  to  his 
home  from  the  army  his  life  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  his 
father.  Again  taking  up  the  task  of  making  a  living  for  himself 
and  others  dependent  upon  him,  he  was  called  upon  as  well  to 
assist  in  the  rehabilitation  of  his  county  and  the  State,  and  to  act 
a  part  in  a  drama  sometimes  even  more  trying  than  the  dangers 
of  the  battlefield,  demanding  supreme  self-denial  and  moral 
courage  of  the  highest  type.  The  Southern  soldier,  returning, 
found  fields  uncultivated  and  the  family  circle  broken,  with  ruin 
everywhere.  In  the  dark  days  which  followed  hard  upon  the  heels 
of  war,  few  men  did  more  than  Mr.  Long  to  help  his  fellow- 
men,  to  aid  the  unfortunate,  to  restore  peace  and  prosperity  to  the 
State  and  lift  the  veil  of  uncertainty,  doubt  and  distress  which 
overshadowed  the  land. 

He  is  to-day,  and  always  has  been,  in  politics,  a  Democrat,  with 
an  abiding  faith  in  the  principles  of  his  party;  unchanged  and 
unchanging,  he  has  held  fast  to  the  convictions  of  his  early  days. 
In  his  section  of  the  State,  the  party  has  found  in  him  a  safe 
leader,  conservative,  discreet  and  cautious,  but  courageous  and 
enterprising.  Though  true  to  the  principles  of  his  party,  his 
charity  and  respect  for  the  opinions  of  others  who  differed  with 
him  have  made  him  greatly  esteemed  by  the  public  generally.  In 
1885  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  from  his 
county,  and  in  1889  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate,  representing  the 
district  composed  of  the  counties  of  Caswell,  Orange,  Durham  and 
Person.  In  1901  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Senate,  representing 
the  district  composed  of  Person  and  Granville,  and  was  re-elected 
in  1905  to  represent  the  same  district.  In  his  public  life  he  has 
ever  been  conspicuous  for  moral  courage  and  integrity,  which 
prompted  him  to  do  his  duty  as  he  saw  it,  regardless  of  self.  In 
1885  he  succeeded  in  passing  a  stock  law  for  the  county  of 
Person,  which  was  bitterly  opposed  by  many  of  his  constituents, 
but  has  since  become  acceptable  to  all  the  county.  He  was  recog- 
nized in  the  Senate  as  one  of  the  State's  best  business  men,  and 
one  of  the  safest  and  most  conservative  of  that  body.  Conse- 
quently, in  1901  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 


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234  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Banks,  one  of  the  most  important  committees  of  the  Senate,  and 
in  1905  was  made  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance.  In 
1901  he  voted  against  conviction  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  who  were  impeached  and  tried  before  the  bar  of  the  Senate, 
although  it  was  sought  to  make  the  impeachment  a  party  measure. 
As  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  he  was  courteous,  defer- 
ential and  quiet,  but  firm  and  decided.  He  was  unostentatious 
and  not  obtrusive,  yet  he  was  aggressive  when  necessary,  and 
always  showed  the  courage  of  his  convictions  when  occasion  de- 
manded. By  his  gentle,  kind  manner  he  won  many  friends  among 
his  fellow-members,  who  are  bound  to  him  by  ties  of  friendship 
which  are  close  and  sure.  Mr.  Long  felt  that  his  party  was 
wrong  in  adopting  the  free  silver  platform,  and  sided  with  that 
wing  of  the  Democratic  Party  known  as  Gold  Democrats,  but  he 
did  not  allow  this  issue  to  shake  in  the  slightest  degree  his  political 
faith  or  lessen  his  zeal  for  his  party. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Long  has  been  one  of  the  most  prominent 
laymen  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  State.  His 
Christian  character  and  splendid  business  judgment  have  made 
him  much  in  demand  in  the  councils  of  his  church,  and  he  has 
been  honored  with  many  positions  of  trust  and  confidence.  He 
is  a  trustee  of  the  Methodist  Orphanage  at  Raleigh,  which  position 
he  has  held  for  some  years.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of  Trinity 
College,  and  has  been  recently  elected  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Greensboro  Female  College. 

He  has  always  been  a  zealous  promoter  of  every  enterprise 
which  tended  toward  the  development  of  his  county  and  the  section 
of  State  in  which  he  lives.  In  1889  Roxboro  had  no  railroad  facili- 
ties. It  was  thought  by  many  that  there  was  an  understanding 
between  the  Richmond  and  Danville  and  Seaboard  railroads  to 
the  eflFect  that  neither  should  build  in  this  territory,  as  its  business 
must  come  to  the  one  or  the  other.  The  larger  cities  and  towns 
in  this  section  were  drawing  a  large  country  trade  from  the  county 
of  Person,  and  it  did  not  seem  desirable  to  them  that  a  railroad 
should  be  built  through  this  territory.  The  securing  of  the  Lynch- 
burg and  Durham  Railroad  through  the  county  was  one  of  the 


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JAMES  ANDERSON  LONG  235. 

most  signal  triumphs  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Long.  He  felt  that  duty 
called  him  to  this  work.  Being  combatted  at  every  turn,  and 
thwarted  by  railroad  tactics  in  plans  seemingly  well  laid,  his  efforts 
were  finally  rewarded,  through  the  co-operation  of  friends,  by 
the  building  of  the  Lynchburg  and  Durham  Railroad,  now  a  part 
of  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad.  During  a  great  portion 
of  the  time  Mr.  Long  was  fighting  single-handed  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  this  railroad.  He  had  determined  that  there  should 
be  a  railroad  through  the  county,  and  by  the  help  of  others  he 
succeeded,  and  but  for  his  untiring  efforts  and  tenacity  of  purpose, 
together  with  the  assistance  of  other  prominent  men  of  his  section, 
the  road  would  never  have  been  built.  He  was  a  director  in  the 
road  until  it  was  sold  to  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad. 

He  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  "Terrell  School  Fund"  of  Per- 
son County.  About  the  year  1898  Dr.  William  Terrell,  a  resident 
of  Person  County,  died  leaving  by  his  will  $55,000  to  the  common 
school  fund  of  the  county,  the  interest  only  to  be  used.  The 
management  of  this  fund  was  committed  to  the  hands  of  trustees, 
and  the  court  appointed  Mr.  J.  S.  Bradsher  and  Mr.  Long,  and 
gave  to  them  the  management  of  this  fund.  There  was  also  a 
provision  in  the  will  of  Dr.  Terrell  for  the  building  of  a  school- 
house  for  each  white  district  in  the  county,  all  of  which  have  been 
built,  and  arc  now  known  as  the  "Terrell  Schoolhouses." 

He  was  first  married  in  October,  1867,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Win- 
stead,  who  died  in  May,  1882.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Meldron 
Winstead,  and  niece  of  Colonel  C.  S.  Winstead  and  Colonel  J.  M. 
Winstead.  In  May,  1883,  he  was  again  married,  to  Miss  Laura 
Thompson,  daughter  of  Sydney  Thompson  of  Leasburg,  North 
Carolina,  and  niece  of  Hon.  Jacob  Thompson,  who  was  a  member 
of  Buchanan's  Cabinet.  By  his  first  marriage  there  were  three 
children,  two  of  whom  died,  and  by  his  second  marriage  there 
were  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living. 

The  success  of  Mr.  Long  has  been  characteristic  of  the  man — 
sure,  gradual,  steady  and  certain.  From  early  childhood  he  was 
ambitious  to  succeed  as  a  business  man,  and  he  has  done  so  to  a 
most  eminent  degree,  building  up  large  interests  and  accumulating 


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236  NORTH  CAROLINA 

quite  a  fortune.  He  has  never  failed  in  any  enterprise  which  was 
under  his  control.  He  is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  extensive  business  houses  of  his  section,  having  been  en- 
gaged in  the  mercantile  business  and  farming  since  1865.  He 
is  the  owner  of  large  city  property  and  farming  lands.  He 
has  manufactured  tobacco  for  many  years  successfully,  is  a  dealer 
in  leaf  tobacco,  and  is  also  owner  of  large  interests  in  flouring 
mills,  planing  mills  and  saw  mills.  He  is  president  of  the  Roxboro 
G)tton  Mills  and  of  the  People's  Bank  of  Roxboro.  His  largest 
interest,  however,  is  in  farming  lands,  to  which  he  devotes  a  great 
portion  of  his  time.  , 

He  is  a  model  of  that  class  of  men  who,  alike  in  war  and  in 
peace,  in  adversity  and  victory,  have  been  the  same  loyal,  brave, 
patriotic  citizens,  true  to  every  trust,  neither  elated  by  success 
nor  discouraged  by  disaster,  who  have  guided  the  State  through 
the  breakers  of  war  and  the  rocks  of  reconstruction  into  the  haven 
of  prosperity  and  happiness,  and  who  have  preserved  its  virtue, 
honor  and  renown  without  stain  or  tarnish. 

Charles  Af.  Stedtnan. 


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FREDERICK  WILLIAM  von  MARSHALL 


^NE  of  the  most  able  men  in  North  Carolina  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
Frederick  William  von  Marshall.  He  was  bom 
in  Stolpen,  Saxony,  February  5,  1721,  where 
his  father,  Baron  George  Rudolph  von  Marshall 
of  Herrn  Grosserstaedt  was  commandant. 
With  his  three  brothers,  Frederick  William  received  a  strict  mili- 
tary education,  his  parents  wishing  him  to  enter  the  army  or  fill 
some  office  at  the  Court  of  the  King  of  Saxony. 

During  his  college  days,  however,  he  became  acquainted  with 
the  Unitas  Fratrum,  or  Moravian  Church,  which  he  joined  about 
1739,  becoming  one  of  its  most  useful  members.  For  some  twenty- 
two  years  he  labored  in  the  German  and  English  congregations, 
taking  an  active  part  in  negotiations  with  the  English  Parliament 
and  in  other  affairs,  where  to  his  natural  talent  for  leadership  was 
added  experience  in  organization  and  in  executing  large  plans. 

In  1750  he  married  Hedwig  Elizabeth  von  Schweinitz,  and  in 
1 761  came  to  Pennsylvania  on  important  official  matters  connected 
with  the  Moravian  congregation  at  Bethlehem.  In  1764  and  1765 
he  was  in  North  Carolina,  being  present  when  the  site  for  Salem 
was  chosen,  and  after  a  visit  to  Germany,  he  returned  to  Salem 
in  1768,  empowered  to  take  charge  of  all  the  financial  affairs  of 
the  new  town.  From  then  to  the  close  of  the  century  his  was  the 
leading  spirit  in  the  settlement,  which  under  his  care  grew  and 


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J 


238  NORTH  CAROLINA 

prospered,  until  at  his  death  the  little  cluster  of  houses  in  the  forest 
had  developed  into  a  thriving  town,  known  throughout  North 
Carolina  and  the  adjoining  States  for  the  thrift,  integrity  and 
varied  industries  of  its  people. 

This  was  a  greater  tribute  to  the  keen  insight,  good  judgment, 
wise  aggressiveness  and  far-sighted  designs  of  Marshall  than  at 
first  appears,  for  the  period  included  the  Revolutionary  War  with 
all  its  attendant  trials  and  paralysis  of  commercial  enterprise.  He 
was  not  in  Salem  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  war,  having  gone 
to  Germany  on  a  business  trip  and  being  unable  to  return,  and 
when  he  reached  Wachovia  in  1779  he  learned  that  an  act  had 
been  passed  by  the  North  Carolina  legislature  of  1777  confiscating 
all  lands  held  by  aliens,  and  the  Moravians  were  in  great  danger 
of  being  dispossessed  of  their  100,000  acres.  Fortunately,  Mar- 
shall was  able  to  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  State  authorities 
that  James  Hutton  of  London  had  held  the  title  only  "in  trust 
for  the  Unitas  Fratrum,"  and  that  during  his  stay  in  Europe  the 
title  had  been  transferred  to  him.  As  he  was  a  naturalized  citizen 
of  the  State,  the  legislature  thereupon,  by  a  special  act,  confirmed 
his  title  to  Wachovia,  also  ''in  trust"  for  his  church,  and  the 
Moravians  were  left  in  peaceable  possession. 

Throughout  Wachovia  his  influence  was  everywhere  felt,  but 
Salem  particularly  profited  by  his  care.  At  that  time  all  land  in 
and  around  the  town  belonged  to  the  church  and  was  leased  to 
individuals,  which  gave  the  "administrator"  power  to  admit  or  ex- 
clude settlers  as  he  chose.  Under  Marshall's  guidance  industrious, 
earnest  people  gathered  there.  These  people  brought  with  them 
numerous  trades,  which  made  the  town  self-supporting;  under 
Marshall's  direction  the  town  became  the  chief  trading  point  of  the 
country  for  miles  around.  Elsewhere  in  the  New  World  education 
was  lightly  considered,  and  schools  for  girls  were  of  the  poorest 
quality;  during  Marshall's  regime  the  schools  in  Salem  were  so 
well  conducted  that  non-residents  wished  their  children  to  share 
the  advantages,  and  Salem  Academy  and  College  was  begun. 
When  the  congregation  needed  a  new  meeting  hall,  Marshall 
planned  and  built  an  edifice  which  suffices  for  the  large  congre- 


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FREDERICK  WILLIAM  von  MARSHALL 


239 


gation  of  the  present  day,  a  striking  instance  of  the  accuracy  with 
which  he  forecast  the  needs  of  the  future. 

Not  to  all  men  is  it  given  to  see  the  fulfillment  of  the  dreams 
of  their  early  manhood,  but  Marshall,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty- 
one,  had  only  to  look  about  him  to  see  what  his  hand  had  wrought, 
his  influence  had  achieved;  and  his  death,  February  11,  1802,  was 
mourned  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  own  denomination.  He 
was  laid  to  rest  February  14th,  in  the  Salem  "God's  Acre," 
among  the  brethren  for  whom  he  had  labored  for  forty  years. 

Adelaide  L.  Fries, 


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JOSEPH    MARTIN 


|0  consider  the  relations  of  the  American  people 
to  the  Indians  is  to  study  greed  for  land  on  one 
hand,  with  hostility,  revenge  and  treachery  on 
the  other.  While  many  deplore  the  heartless- 
ness  of  the  whites  in  their  grasping  progress, 
all  do  not  realize  that  such  is  the  course  of 
empire.  The  purpose  of  this  sketch  is  to  tell  the  story  of  one  who 
stood  in  the  breach  between  advancing  English  and  retreating 
American  and  sought  to  secure  for  the  latter  some  show  of  con- 
sideration and  justice. 

Joseph  Martin,  adventurer  and  pioneer,  frontiersman  and 
soldier,  Indian  diplomat  and  Indian  agent,  administrator  and  legis- 
lator, was  the  third  son  of  Joseph  Martin  of  Albemarle  County, 
Virginia.  The  earliest  known  representative  of  this  family  was 
William  Martin,  a  merchant  of  Bristol,  England.  His  son  Joseph 
settled  in  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  and  his  son,  Joseph  Martin, 
the  second  of  the  name  and  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
1740.  While  a  boy.  General  Martin  developed  a  character  sug- 
gested by  the  frontier.  He  had  few  school  advantages,  and  was 
apprenticed  to  a  carpenter;  but  he  had  heard  the  call  of  the 
wild,  and  with  Thomas  Sumter,  later  General  Sumter  of  South 
Carolina,  ran  away  from  home  and  made  his  way  to  Fort  Pitt. 
In  1762  he  married  Sarah  Lucas  and  settled  in  Orange  County. 
Virginia.    He  engaged  in  trading  for  peltry.    Six  or  eight  months 


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JOSEPH  MARTIN  241 

of  the  year  were  spent  on  the  extreme  frontier  among  the  Indians. 
This  work  helped  Martin  find  himself.  It  developed  the  natural 
instincts  of  the  pioneer  and  explorer,  which  until  then  had  strug- 
gled in  vain  for  recognition.  He  was  to  be  a  contributor  to  the 
advance  of  English  civilization  across  the  AUeghanies.  This  be- 
gan with  his  attempted  settlement  of  Powell's  Valley,  now  in 
Lee  County,  Virginia,  and  Claiborne  and  Hancock  counties, 
Tennessee.  He  went  out  in  1769  with  some  five  or  six  adventurers 
and  made  a  stand  on  the  Kentucky  road,  some  twenty  miles  north 
of  Cumberland  Gap,  and  since  known  as  Martin's  Station.  Com 
was  planted,  but  the  Cherokees  came  along,  war  ensued,  the  post 
was  abandoned,  and  for  the  time  the  advance  guard  of  civilization 
was  checked. 

Martin  then  returned  to  the  farm  for  a  few  years.  In  1773  he 
removed  to  what  is  now  Henry  County,  Virginia.  In  1774  the 
Shawnee  War  broke  out,  and  he  was  commissioned  a  captain  of 
Pittsylvania  militia  on  August  25,  1774,  by  Lord  Dunmore.  Dur- 
ing the  fall  of  that  year  he  was  engaged  in  scouting  in  Culbertson's 
bottom,  on  New  River,  in  Southwest  Virginia. 

Martin's  first  connection  with  North  Carolina  seems  to  have 
been  through  the  Transylvania  Company.  In  December,  1774, 
he  had  determined  to  reoccupy  the  station  which  he  had  settled  in 
Powell's  Valley  in  1769.  He  set  out  on  Christmas  day,  and  arrived 
in  the  valley  early  in  January,  177S,  with  sixteen  or  eighteen  men. 
Soon  after  this,  by  the  treaty  signed  by  the  Cherokees  at  Sycamore 
Shoals,  March  17,  1775,  the  whole  of  Powell's  Valley  passed  under 
the  control  of  Richard  Henderson  &  Company  of  North  Caro- 
lina as  a  part  of  their  Transylvania  purchase.  To  secure  Martin's 
services  they  granted  him  land,  made  him  their  attorney  and  entry 
taker  of  the  Powell's  Valley  division  of  their  purchase.  Hender- 
son, like  others  before  him,  tried  to  limit  the  settlements  to  certain 
sections,  and,  like  them,  failed.  He  also  suggested  to  Martin  local 
self-government  and  an  Assembly  for  his  settlement,  but  the 
Cherokees  went  on  the  warpath  again  in  1776,  and  the  settlers  were 
forced  to  return. 

Martin  was  made  a  captain  of  Pittsylvania  County  militia  by 


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242  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  Virginia  Safety  Committee  on  October  9,  1775,  and  with  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution  his  real  career  began.  It  was  a  part 
of  the  British  plan  to  incite  the  Cherokees  to  hostility  against  the 
Americans.  While  one  British  army  defeated  them  on  the  seacoast 
another  was  to  land  in  West  Florida,  move  northward  through  the 
Creek  and  Chickasaw  country  into  the  Cherokee  nation,  gather 
recruits  from  all  these  Indians  and  so  crush  the  colonies  between 
two  millstones.  The  first  attack  was  made  in  the  summer  of  1776; 
but  the  plans  of  the  Indians  were  betrayed  by  Nancy  Ward,  prob- 
ably through  the  influence  of  Martin,  and  they  were  defeated  at 
the  battle  of  the  Long  Island  Flats  of  Holston  River,  July  20, 
1776.  There  was  then  a  general  movement  against  the  Cherokees 
by  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina.  Martin  com- 
manded a  company  under  Colonel  William  Christian  of  Virginia ; 
Rutherford  commanded  the  North  Carolina  contingent  and 
Williamson  that  of  South  Carolina.  The  campaigns  of  1776 
temporarily  broke  the  power  of  the  Cherokees,  but  it  was  deemed 
prudent  to  keep  troops  amoog  them.  Martin  and  his  company 
remained  on  the  frontier,  at  first  at  Rye  Cove  on  Clinch  River, 
then  at  Fort  Lee,  just  above  the  mouth  of  Big  Limestone,  on  the 
frontiers  of  Washington  County,  Tennessee.  On  July  20,  1777, 
a  treaty  was  held  with  the  Cherokees  at  the  Long  Island  of 
Holston  by  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  They  ceded  lands ;  they 
agreed  also  to  expel  the  British  agent  and  to  receive  agents  from 
the  States.  On  November  3,  1777,  Martin  was  commissioned 
by  Governor  Henry  as  agent  and  superintendent  of  Cherokee 
Indian  affairs  for  Virginia.  He  was  to  reside  within  the  nation, 
attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  State  with  the  savages,  endeavor  to 
maintain  peace,  to  counteract  the  wiles  of  British  agents  and  make 
reports.  He  took  up  his  residence  at  the  Long  Island  of  Holston, 
within  the  limits  of  North  Carolina,  and  built  a  stone  house  there 
to  receive  government  supplies ;  for  the  next  few  years  he  resided 
at  the  island  and  discharged  his  duties,  and  on  February  17,  1779, 
became  major  of  a  battalion  of  volunteers  raised  to  attack  those 
Cherokees  who  still  adhered  to  British  interests. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  Martin  rendered  what  was  per- 


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JOSEPH  MARTIN  243 


haps  his  most  valuable  service  to  the  American  colonies.  His 
office  and  duties  kept  him  among  the  Indians,  and  made  him  a 
mediator  between  white  men  and  red.  He  was  to  see  that  each 
observed  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  the  Long  Island  of  Holston. 
This  was  a  delicate  duty,  for  the  westward  moving  wave  of  settle- 
ment cared  to  recognize  the  rights  of  the  Indian  only  so  long  as 
it  suited  its  purpose.  He  had  also  to  counteract  the  influence  of 
the  British  agents  who  had  been  expelled  by  the  treaty,  but  had 
taken  refuge  with  the  more  hostile  elements  of  the  Cherokees, 
who  followed  Dragon  Canoe.  Martin  ran  a  constant  risk  of 
assassination,  and  took  his  life  in  his  hand  when  he  went  into 
the  nation.  But  he  had  been  adopted  into  the  tribe,  and  had  a 
powerful  ally  and  friend  in  Nancy  Ward,  a  woman  of  high  rank, 
marked  ability  and  great  influence.  As  we  have  seen,  it  was  the 
purpose  of  the  British  to  crush  the  American  colonies  between  an 
eastern  and  a  western  army.  It  was  on  the  frontiersmen,  also, 
that  Washington  was  to  depend  did  the  worst  come;  but  it  was 
difficult  to  draw  troops  from  the  western  settlements  for  the  regu- 
lar army,  for  the  reason  that  their  departure  left  the  frontiers  ex- 
posed to  the  savages.  This  was  the  situation  in  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1780.  The  American  cause  had  then  met  numerous  defeats. 
Charleston  had  been  captured.  Gates's  army  had  been  destroyed 
at  Camden  and  Ferguson's  march  into  North  Carolina  meant  the 
overrunning  and  conquest  of  the  State.  This  was  a  critical 
moment  for  the  States.  Had  Martin  failed  at  this  time  in  his 
diplcmiacy  with  the  Cherokees,  had  he  failed  to  keep  them  quiet 
in  September,  1780,  the  overmountain  men  could  not  have  gathered 
for  their  attack  on  Ferguson  at  King's  Mountain,  where  a  telling 
blow  was  delivered  and  the  vanguard  of  the  British  army  hurled 
back  from  North  Carolina  soil. 

This  battle  broke  the  power  of  the  Tories  in  North  Carolina, 
and  so  undermined  that  of  the  savages,  but  they  were  anxious  to 
make  a  further  trial  of  strength.  Martin  succeeded  in  keeping 
the  Cherokees  quiet  till  the  King's  Mountain  campaign  was  over, 
but  could  restrain  them  no  longer.  They  treated  with  the  British, 
and  promised  war  on  all  Carolina  and  Virginia.    It  was  necessary 


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244  NORTH  CAROLINA 

to  carry  on  a  campaign  against  them  from  Washington  G)unty, 
Virginia,  in  December,  1780.  Martin  joined  the  expedition  with 
an  independent  command  of  some  300  mounted  men  from  Sulli- 
YSLXi  County,  North  Carolina  (now  Tennessee).  They  killed  and 
captured  a  number,  destroyed  eleven  principal  towns  and  many 
supplies.  In  March,  1781,  Martin  became  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
militia  of  Washington  County,  North  Carolina  (Tennessee),  and 
on  February  26,  1781,  was  appointed  by  General  Greene  to  treat 
with  the  Cherokees  on  boundaries,  on  an  exchange  of  prisoners 
and  on  the  terms  of  peace.  He  was  appointed  by  Virginia  on 
January  13,  1783,  to  treat  with  the  Cherokees,  Creeks  and  Chicka- 
saws  for  peace,  and  on  May  17,  1783,  was  commissioned  by  North 
Carolina  as  Indian  agent,  or  agent  and  superintendent  of  Indian 
aflfairs,  among  the  Cherokees  and  Chickamaugas,  the  latter  being 
a  southern  band  representing  the  worst  elements  of  the  Cherokees, 
many  of  them  being  outlaws  and  horse  thieves.  He  was  present 
as  a  representative  of  both  States  at  a  treaty  with  the  Chicka- 
.  maugas  at  the  Long  Island  of  Holston,  July  9,  1783,  and  made 
a  treaty  with  the  Chickasaws  in  November  of  the  same  year. 
These  treaties  usually  meant  a  further  cession  of  land  to  the  whites. 

In  1783,  under  orders  from  Virginia,  he  settled  Powell's  Valley 
for  the  third  time,  and  his  settlement  was  now  permanent.  In  the 
same  year  we  find  him  making  a  private  venture  in  Georgia, 

In  1785  was  signed  the  treaty  of  Hopewell.  No  action  of 
Martin's  life  brought  down  on  him  more  condemnation  than  this. 
It  is  the  old  story  of  encroachments  by  the  whites,  for  a  North 
Carolina  law  of  1783  opened  for  settlement  lands  to  which  the 
Indian  title  had  not  been  extinguished.  The  treaty  of  Hopewell^ 
signed  at  Hopewell,  on  Keowee  River,  November  28,  1785,  marks 
a  new  era  in  the  relations  of  the  Cherokee  nation  with  the  whites. 
Hitherto  they  had  dealt  with  the  individual  States ;  now  they  were 
to  deal  with  the  nation.  The  commissioners  of  the  Confederation 
were  Benjamin  Hawkins,  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  Andrew  Pickens 
and  Joseph  Martin.  The  object  of  the  treaty  was  to  define  the 
claims  of  the  Indians  and  whites  respectively  and  so  prevent 
encroachments  of  the  former.    Martin  was  also  a  commissioner 


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JOSEPH  MARTIN  245 


for  North  Carolina  (Col.  Rec,  Vol.  XVII.,  pp.  516,  517),  but 
does  not  seem  to  have  served  in  that  capacity.  William  Blount 
was  present  as  agent  for  North  Carolina,  and  agents  for  Georgia 
were  also  present.  The  treaty  was  mainly  the  work  of  Martin. 
The  chief  question  was  that  of  boundaries.  The  Indians  drafted 
a  map  showing  their  claims.  They  were  induced  to  give  up  Tran- 
sylvania, to  leave  out  the  settlements  in  the  Cumberland  section 
and  also  those  on  French  Broad  and  Holston.  The  boundaries 
thus  fixed  were  the  most  favorable  it  was  possible  to  obtain  without 
regard  to  previous  purchases  and  pretended  purchases  made  by 
private  individuals  and  others.  They  yielded  an  extensive  terri- 
tory to  the  United  States,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  commission- 
ers conceded  to  them  a  considerable  extent  of  territory  that  had 
been  purchased  by  private  individuals,  though  by  methods  of  more 
than  doubtful  legality.  The  commissioners  agreed  to  remove  some 
families  from  the  Indian  lands,  but  they  did  not  agree  to  remove 
those  between  French  Broad  and  Holston.  This  angered  the 
Indians,  who  said  that  they  had  never  sold  those  lands.  The 
whites  were  angry  because  some  favors  had  been  shown  the 
Indians  and  because  there  had  not  been  a  still  further  curtailment 
of  their  territory,  and  the  States  were  angry  because  the  commis- 
sioners had  encroached  on  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and 
efforts  were  made  in  Congress  to  destroy  the  treaty  (Col.  Rec., 
Vol.  XVII.,  pp.  578,  579;  Vols.  XVIII.,  pp.  49,  591,  592; 
Vol.  XX.,  p.  762).  Encroachments  continued ;  orders  were  issued 
by  North  Carolina  and  by  the  Continental  Cong^ress  that  settlers 
leave  the  Indian  lands.  They  were  even  threatened  with  the  army ; 
but  treaties,  threats  and  proclamations  were  alike  in  vain.  The 
terms  of  the  treaty  were  never  fully  executed.  Martin  also  signed 
a  treaty  with  the  Choctaws  at  Hopewell  on  January  3,  1786,  and 
with  the  Chickasaws  on  January  10. 

Another  interesting  incident  in  the  life  of  this  pioneer  is  his 
relation  to  the  State  of  Franklin.  In  1784  the  division  and  hos- 
tility between  North  Carolina  proper  and  that  part  of  her  territor)' 
west  of  the  mountains  had  become  acute.  The  east  was  slow  to 
provide  for  the  defense  of  the  west  and  to  pay  for  the  same.    The 


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246  NORTH  CAROLINA 

courts  were  not  sufficient.  The  west  complained.  In  April,  1784, 
this  territory  was  ceded  by  North  Carolina  to  the  Confederation. 
The  settlers,  thrown  off,  as  they  felt,  by  North  Carolina,  and  not 
yet  received  into  the  Confederation,  set  up  for  themselves,  begin- 
ning with  a  convention  in  Jonesboro,  in  August,  1784.  A  little 
later  they  formally  declared  their  independence  of  North  Carolina 
and  organized  a  government.  Martin  was  a  member  of  the  first 
convention,  but  opposed  the  scheme  for  a  separate  government. 
When  this  action  of  the  west  became  known  in  North  Carolina,  its 
Assembly  repealed  the  act  of  cession,  established  a  Superior  Court 
for  the  four  Tennessee  counties,  appointed  an  assistant  judge  and 
attorney-general,  formed  them  into  a  military  district  and  made 
John  Sevier  a  brigadier-general.  This  prompt  redressing  of  griev- 
ances satisfied  the  more  conservative ;  but  the  more  radical  organ- 
ized a  separate  government,  and  elected  Sevier  as  governor.  Then 
followed  four  years  of  riots  and  contentions,  discord  and  discon- 
tent little  short  of  actual  civil  war.  There  were  rival  govern- 
ments and  rival  officers,  one  set  adhering  to  the  old  State  and  the 
other  to  the  new.  Martin  had  been  satisfied  by  the  action  taken 
by  North  Carolina,  and  counselled  a  return  to  the  allegiance  of 
that  State.  He  stood  out  as  a  leading  supporter  of  the  old  State; 
on  December  13,  1787,  he  was  elected  by  the  North  Carolina 
Assembly  as  brigadier-general  of  the  militia  of  Washington  Dis- 
trict (Col.  Rec,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  225).  This  put  him  at  the  head 
of  the  forces  of  the  State  in  the  west  and  brought  him  into  armed 
opposition  to  the  Franklin  authorities,  but  he  used  this  power 
with  such  prudence  and  wisdom  that  actual  hostilities  were 
avoided,  and  the  State  of  Franklin  died  a  natural  death  in  1788. 
But  in  July,  1788,  Governor  Johnston  ordered  Martin  to  arrest 
Sevier  for  treason,  for  encroachment  on  Indian  lands,  etc.  This 
tended  to  revive  the  still,  smoldering  flames,  but  with  the  farce  at 
Morganton  which  followed  Sevier's  arrest  the  matter  dropped. 

During  all  this  time  Martin  was  Indian  agent  for  North  Caro- 
lina, and  for  the  greater  part  for  Virginia  as  well.  His  position 
was  a  trying  one.  He  stood  between  the  Indians  who  claimed  the 
soil  and  the  constantly  rising  tide  of  white  men  who  were  seeking 


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JOSEPH  MARTIN  247 


new  homes  in  the  west.  The  agent  had  to  meet  also  the  machina- 
tions of  the  Spaniards,  who  had  emissaries  among  the  Cherokees, 
Creeks  and  Chickasaws,  and  were  constantly  inciting  them  to 
hostilities. 

Early  in  1788  the  Cherokees  became  restless.  They  made 
attacks  in  Davidson,  Sumner  and  Hawkins  counties  and  killed 
people  on  the  Kentucky  road.  On  June  20,  1788,  Congress  made 
Martin  its  agent  for  six  months  among  the  Cherokees.  He  was 
to  investigate  their  grievances  and  report.  In  August  he  was 
given  a  similar  position  for  the  Chickasaws.  But  troubles  con- 
tinued, and  it  was  found  best  during  the  summer  of  1788  to  make 
an  expedition  against  the  Chickamauga  band  of  Cherokees.  Some 
800  men  were  called  out ;  the  Indians  were  pursued  and  their  lands 
devastated.  They  retreated  to  Lookout  Mountain  and  attacked 
the  troops  in  the  defile ;  the  latter  became  panic  stricken  and  fled. 
Martin  planned  another  campaign  at  once,  but  suspended  opera- 
tions under  orders  from  the  secretary  of  war.  The  North  Caro- 
lina Assembly  of  1789,  after  much  haggling  and  delay,  paid  the 
expenses  of  the  expedition.  At  Martin's  request,  a  committee  of 
the  Assembly  was  appointed  on  November  7,  1789,  to  investigate 
the  affairs  of  the  expedition  and  to  look  into  various  charges  that 
had  been  brought  against  him.  The  committee  included  William 
R.  Davie  and  William  Blount,  and  the  report  was  made  by  the 
latter.  Certain  communications  by  Martin  to  McGillivray,  the 
Creek  chief,  had  been  twisted  by  his  enemies  into  treason.  The 
report  said  that  in  sending  McGillivray  the  resolutions  of  Con- 
gress Martin  only  did  his  duty,  and  as  for  other  charges,  that 
"depositions  of  similar  import  have  years  past  been  laid  before 
the  General  Assembly,  and  the  committee  do  not  find  them  to 
contain  any  matter  sufficient  to  criminate  the  said  Martin"  (Col. 
Rec.,  Vol.  XXL,  p.  691). 

But,  nevertheless,  Martin's  enemies  were  in  the  ascendant,  and 
the  Assembly  passed  a  resolution  '*that  John  Sevier  is  the  brig- 
adier-general of  the  district  of  Washington,  and  ought  to  be  obeyed 
as  such  according  to  the  date  of  his  commission  issued  in  the 
month  of  November,  1784."    Thus,  in  the  closing  hours  of  the 


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248  NORTH  CAROLINA 

■ 

session,  by  political  trickery,  Martin,  without  notice,  was  legis- 
lated out  of  office,  without  opportunity  for  self-defense  and  with- 
out official  accusation,  and  the  place  of  the  man  who  had  served 
the  State  faithfully  in  her  struggle  with  the  State  of  Franklin 
was  given  to  the  governor  of  that  abortive  commonwealth,  and 
by  the  very  body  which  a  year  or  two  before  had  declared  him  an 
outlaw  (Col.  Rec,  Vol.  XXI.,  pp.  725-728). 

Martin  was  a  representative  in  the  North  Carolina  Assembly 
from  Sullivan  County  in  1782  (April  session),  in  1783  (April), 
in  1786,  1787  and  1788.  He  served  on  the  committees  on  the 
Transylvania  treaty,  laying  off  lands  for  Continental  officers,  on 
Indian  affairs  and  on  Franklin  State.  He  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  an  active  member,  and  seldom  appeared  as  a  speaker.  He  was 
also  a  member  from  Sullivan  County  in  the  Hillsboro  convention  of 

1788,  which  considered  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  in  that  of 

1789,  which  adopted  that  instrument.  In  both  conventions  he 
advocated  its  adoption.  The  latter  seems  to  have  been  his  last 
service  in  or  for  North  Carolina.  About  this  time  he  removed  to 
(jeorgia,  built  a  fort,  took  part  in  suppressing  an  Indian  outbreak 
and  was  elected  to  the  (Georgia  Assembly.  He  also  traded  with  the 
Cherokees,  and  on  December  11,  1793,  was  commissioned  by  (jov- 
emor  Lee  as  brigadier-general  of  the  Twelfth  Regiment  of  Vir- 
ginia militia  raised  for  suppression  of  the  Whiskey  Insurrection. 
In  1799  he  was  a  Virginia  commissioner  to  settle  the  Virginia- 
Kentucky  boundary.  In  1802  he  served  Virginia  in  a  similar 
capacity  for  the  Tennessee  boundary.  He  was  in  the  Virginia 
Assembly  1791-99,  and  Martinsville,  in  Henry  County,  is  named 
in  his  honor.  He  died  in  Henry  County,  Virginia,  Decem- 
ber 18,  1808. 

He  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Sarah  Lucas  and 
his  second  Susannah  Graves.  He  had  a  large  family,  and  a  num- 
ber of  his  descendants  have  become  well  known.  The  list  includes 
his  sons,  Colonel  William  Martin  of  Tennessee  and  Colonel  Joseph 
Martin  of  Virginia ;  other  descendants  are  the  late  Rev.  Joseph  B. 
Martin  and  the  late  Rev.  Lafayette  W.  Martin  of  North  Carolina, 
Rev.  Carr  W.  Pritchett,  astronomer  of  the  Morrison  Observatory 


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JOSEPH  MARTIN  249 


of  Glasgow,  Missouri;  Dr.  Henry  S.  Pritchett,  president  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology;  and  ex-Senator  John 
Martin  of  Kansas. 

A  detailed  study  of  General  Martin's  career  will  be  found  in  my 
monog^phy  in  the  report  of  the  American  Historical  Association 
for  1893  entitled  "General  Joseph  Martin  and  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  in  the  West."  The  sources  for  his  public  career  arc 
to  be  found  in  the  American  State  Papers,  Calendar  of  Virginia 
State  Papers,  Colonial  and  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  pub- 
lications Southern  History  Association  and  Virginia  Magazine  of 
Biography. 

Stephen  B.  Weeks. 


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JOHN  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD 

[T  is  often  remarked  of  the  dead,  especially  in  this 
busy,  changing  age,  that  if  they  could  revisit 
the  scenes  of  their  labors  they  would  walk  as 
in  a  world  not  realized.  The  general  truth  of 
the  remark  cannot  be  denied.  But  a  study  of 
the  character  and  achievements  of  Governor 
Morehead  convinces  me  that  he  would  be  more  at  home  in  North 
Carolina  to-day  than  would  any  other  of  our  ante-bellum  gov- 
ernors. He  has  been  dead  forty  years,  and  they  have  been  years 
of  constant  change  and  of  unceasing  development.  But  so  wide 
were  his  sympathies,  so  vital  were  his  aims,  so  far-sighted  were 
his  public  policies,  and  so  clearly  did  he  foresee  the  larger  North 
Carolina  of  schools,  railroads  and  cotton  mills,  that  he  would  be 
as  truly  a  contemporary  in  the  twentieth  century  as  he  was  a  leader 
in  the  nineteenth. 

John  Motley  Morehead,  governor  of  North  Carolina  for  two 
successive  terms,  1841  to  1845,  was  born  in  Pittsylvania  County, 
Virginia,  July  4,  1796.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Morehead  and 
Obedience  Motley,  both  natives  of  Virginia.  In  1798  his  parents 
moved  to  Rockingham  County,  North  Carolina,  where  he  lived 
until  his  marriage  in  182 1  to  Miss  Ann  Eliza  Lindsay,  eldest 
daughter  of  Colonel  Robert  Lindsay  of  Guilford  County.  Though 
three  counties  claim  him,  his  home  was  for  the  rest  of  his  life 
in  Greensboro,  the  county  seat  of  Guilford ;  it  was  from  Guilford 
as  a  center  that  his  influence  and  that  of  his  family  radiated ;  it 


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JOHN  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  251 

was  in  Guilford  that  his  remains  and  those  of  his  wife  were 
interred ;  and  it  is  Guilford  that  still  jealously  guards  his  memory 
as  that  of  her  greatest  citizen. 

Though  there  were  no  classical  schools  in  Rockingham  County 
during  Governor  Morehead's  boyhood,  his  parents  were  deter- 
mined that  their  gifted  son  should  have  a  college  education.  At 
the  age  of  fourteen  he  began  the  study  of  Latin  in  the  home  of 
his  father's  friend  and  neighbor,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Settle,  father 
of  the  late  Judge  Thomas  Settle.  From  here  he  went  to  the 
famous  school  near  Greensboro  taught  by  Dr.  David  Caldwell. 
Though  Dr.  Caldwell  was  at  this  time  ninety  years  of  age, 
Governor  Morehead  never  wearied  of  praising  his  skill  as  a 
teacher  and  his  range  and  acumen  as  a  scholar.  From  Dr. 
Caldwell's  school  he  entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
as  a  junior  half  advanced,  joined  the  Dialectic  Society,  was  made 
a  tutor,  graduated  in  181 7,*  and  became  one  of  the  most  efficient 
trustees  the  University  has  ever  had.  He  was  the  sixth  alumnus 
of  the  University  to  occupy  the  governor's  chair  and  the  first 
to  occupy  it  for  two  terms. 

It  should  be  said  in  this  connection  that  the  differences  of  opin- 
ion in  regard  to  Governor  Morehead's  academic  attainments  rest 
on  a  misconception  of  the  man  and  of  the  times.  Books  were 
never  to  him  an  end  in  themselves :  he  used  them  only  as  a  means 
to  a  knowledge  of  men  and  of  things.  He  could  quote  readily 
from  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Bums  and  the  later  poets;*  but  he 
laid  no  claims  to  being  a  literary  critic,  nor  was  he  interested  in 
the  niceties  of  literary  art  except  in  so  far  as  they  gave  cogency 
to  his  reasoning  or  sparkle  to  his  illustrations.  I  have  searched  his 
pages  in  vain,  however,  to  find  any  ground  for  the  charge  that 
his  English  was  defective.  In  his  stump  speeches,  none  of  which 
survive,  he  doubtless  followed  the  vogue  of  the  times  and  accom- 

"Thc  Morehead  room  is  still  pointed  out  in  the  South  Building.  The 
statement,  however,  in  the  Kerr  Memorial,  that  John  Y.  Mason  of  Virginia 
and  James  K  Polk,  the  future  President,  were  classmates  of  Governor 
Morehead,  is  a  mistake. 

•See  Kerr  Memorial,  p.  47. 


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252  NORTH  CAROLINA 

modated  his  grammar  to  local  demands;*  but  in  his  published 
addresses  his  language  is  invariably  clear,  correct,  flexible  and 
eminently  representative  of  the  power  and  personality  of  the  man 
behind  it. 

After  graduation  Governor  Morehead  studied  law  under  Archi- 
bald D.  Murphy,  who  was  twenty  years  his  senior,  and  a  graduate 
also  of  Doctor  Caldwell's  school  and  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  The  influence  of  Murphy  upon  young  Morehead  was 
far-reaching  and  profound.  The  two  men  were  alike  and  yet 
unlike.  In  the  combination  of  native  brilliancy,  range  and  ac- 
curacy of  information,  wealth  of  literary  attainment  and  con- 
structive statesmanship  North  Carolina  has  never  produced  the 
superior  of  Murphy.  But  in  their  unvarying  insistence  upon  the 
need  of  internal  improvements  and  of  broader  educational  policies 
for  the  State  the  two  men  stood  upon  the  same  platform;  and 
Governor  Morehead,  by  his  greater  power  over  the  people  at 
large,  was  enabled  to  accomplish  far  more  than  Murphy. 

Obtaining  his  license  in  1819,  he  began  the  practice  of  law  in 
Wentworth,  the  county  seat  of  Rockingham.  As  a  representative 
from  Rockingham,  and  later  from  Guilford,  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  his  fame  as  an  eloquent  tribune  of  the  people  and  as 
an  uncompromising  advocate  of  internal  improvements  and  of 
better  educational  facilities  drew  the  attention  of  all  classes  to 
him  and  made  him  the  most  talked  of  man  in  the  State.  In  1840 
he  founded  Edgeworth  Female  Seminary*  in  Greensboro,  and 
was  chosen  the  same  year  as  the  Whig  candidate  for  governor. 

His  appearance  at  this  time,  as  he  stood  at  the  threshold  of  his 

*An  illustration  may  be  found  in  an  incident  reported  to  me  by  Dr.  Kemp 
P.  Battle.  During  Governor  Morehead's  campaign  with  Judge  Saunders, 
the  judge  challenged  a  statement  of  his  opponent  in  these  words:  "Whar, 
sir,  does  the  gentleman  git  his  authority  for  that  thar  statement?  I  ask 
him  whar."  Slapping  his  hand  upon  certain  volumes,  Governor  Morehead 
replied:   "In  them  thar  dokiments,  sir.    That's  whar." 

'For  the  unique  position  held  by  this  institution  in  the  education  of 
Southern  women,  sec  "The  History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina'*  by- 
Charles  Lee  Smith,  "The  History  of  Guilford  County"  by  Miss  Sallie  W. 
Stockard,  and  "The  Church  and  Private  Schools  of  North  Carolina"  by 


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JOHN  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  253 

larger  career,  was  singularly  winning  and  impressive.  His 
shoulders  were  broad,  his  forehead  was  massive,  his  face  clean 
shaven,  his  hair  touched  with  gray,  his  carriage  erect  but  not 
stiff,  his  dress  elegant  but  never  ostentatious,  and  his  expression 
a  blending  of  kindliness,  sagacity  and  unalterable  determination. 

His  Democratic  opponent  for  the  governorship  was  Hon.  Romu- 
lus M.  Saunders,  and  their  five  months'  campaign  was  the  most 
memorable  the  State  had  yet  witnessed.  Though  Judge  Saunders 
was  at  the  outset  better  versed  than  his  opponent  in  the  history 
of  politics  and  political  parties,  Governor  Morehead's  easy  mastery 
of  a  popular  audience,  his  candor  and  sincerity,  together  with  his 
power  of  absorbing  just  the  information  that  he  needed,  gave  him 
an  increasing  advantage  over  the  Democratic  candidate.  His 
majority  on  election  day  was  more  than  8000  votes.  In  his 
inaugural,  the  first  delivered  in  the  new  Capitol,  he  "spoke  without 
notes  and  without  the  slightest  appearance  of  faltering."*  He 
dwelt  chiefly  upon  commerce,  agriculture,  methods  of  internal 
improvements,  and  the  needs  of  the  University  and  of  the  common 
schools.  "It  is  to  our  common  schools,  in  which  every  child  can 
receive  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  that  our  attention  should  be 
mainly  directed." 

His  opponent  for  his  second  term  was  Louis  D.  Henry.  Owing 
to  the  untimely  death  of  President  Harrison  and  the  alleged  de- 
fection of  Mr.  Tyler,  the  Whig  Party  in  North  Carolina  was 
apathetic  and  almost  disorganized;  but  Governor  Morehead's 
majority,  though  reduced,  was  about  5000.  In  his  last  official 
message,  delivered  in  1845,  he  made  the  following  impassioned 
and  successful  appeal,  honorable  alike  to  his  heart  and  to  his 
head,  for  the  better  treatment  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  blind : 

"It  is  more  than  probable  that  this  is  the  last  official  communi- 
cation I  shall  have  to  make  to  your  honorable  body;  to-morrow 
severs  the  political  tie  that  now  unites  us.    In  retiring  from  the 

Dr.  Charles  Lee  Raper.    While  there  were,  of  course,  a  great  many  female 
schools  in  the  State  supported  by  denominational  and  municipal  subscrip- 
tions, this  was  the  only  one  that  was  founded  and  owned  by  an  individual. 
"Greensboro  Patriot,  January  12,  1841, 


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254  NORTH  CAROLINA 

distinguished  position  I  now  occupy,  I  leave  it  pleading  in  behalf  of 
these  unfortunate  and  helpless  creatures  who  are  unable  to  plead 
for  themselves,  and  whose  happiness  or  misery  awaits  your  action. 

**I  conjure  you,  then,  by  your  duties  as  wise  legislators,  by  all 
the  feelings  of  humanity  and  of  philanthropy,  by  the  precepts  of 
our  holy  religion,  to  resolve  never  to  abandon  the  seats  which 
you  now  occupy,  nor  to  behold  your  own  beloved  offspring,  until 
you  have  done  your  duty  toward  these  afflicted  children  of  Provi- 
dence by  the  adoption  of  some  measure  for  the  improvement  and 
amelioration  of  their  condition."^ 

Governor  Morehead's  reputation  had  already  become  national, 
and  in  1848  he  was  unanimously  chosen  to  preside  over  the 
National  Whig  Convention,  which  met  in  Philadelphia,  June  7-9, 
to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  His  speeches  at  the 
opening  and  at  the  close  of  the  convention  were  admirable,  both 
in  form  and  spirit,  almost  every  sentiment  receiving  the  united 
applause  of  the  vast  audience.*  He  had  gone  to  the  convention 
in  the  hope  of  helping  to  nominate  Henry  Clay,  but  Zachary 
Taylor  was  the  popular  choice.  "I  have  voted  for  Henry  Clay," 
he  said  in  his  concluding  speech,  "because  no  man  is  more  largely 
identified  with  the  glory  of  our  country  than  he  is.  No  administra- 
tion could  add  a  particle  to  his  undying  fame ;  no  honors  could  add 
to  his  treasure  heap.  But  I  yield  him  to  this  convention,  yield  him 
cheerfully,  and  for  the  future  no  man  can  go  more  heartily  than 
I  will  for  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista." 

*Sce  "The  Early  History  of  the  North  Carolina  Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  Blind"  in  "Our  Living  and  Our  Dead," 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  257-261,  1874-75.  In  1843  Governor  Morehead  had  offered  to 
W.  D.  Cooke  of  the  Virginia  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and 
Blind  "a  large  tavern  house  and  outhouses"  in  Leaksville  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  similar  institution  in  North  Carolina.  "This  establishment 
you  can  have  the  first  year  gratis,  and  afterward  at  a  very  moderate  cost" 
The  Synod  of  North  Carolina  warmly  commended  this  offer. 

•The  first  speech  is  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  in  the  issue  of  June  10.  1848;  the  second,  in  the  issue  of 
June  13th.  For  access  to  the  ante-bellum  files  of  this  paper  and  of  the 
Greensboro  Patriot,  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  the  authorities 
of  Trinity  College,  North  Carolina. 


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JOHN  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  255 

But  Governor  Morehead's  greatest  speech  was  doubtless  that 
delivered  as  the  representative  of  Guilford  in  defense  of  his  rail- 
road policies.  It  was  during  the  session  of  1858-59.  For  five 
days  he  had  listened  in  silence  to  the  attacks  of  his  opponents; 
but  when  he  finished  his  reply,  **We  could  scarcely  realize,"  says 
the  Hon.  Thomas  Settle,  "the  fact  that  any  man  possessed  such 
powers  of  argument  and  eloquence."  Says  the  Hon.  John  Kerr* : 
"The  House  was  enraptured  with  the  display  of  power  on  the 
part  of  Governor  Morehead,  and  no  further  charges  were  heard 
against  him,  no  other  attacks  upon  him  made  during  the  session, 
but  all  other  feelings  and  sentiments  were  merged  in  unbounded 
admiration  of  *the  old  man  eloquent.' " 

It  is  in  connection  with  the  railroad  system  of  North  Carolina 
that  Governor  Morehead's  influence  is  most  widely  felt  to-day. 
He  is  as  truly  the  father  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  as  he 
was  its  first  president.  For  his  part  in  this  great  work  his  tastes 
and  talents  eminently  fitted  him.  He  was  not  only  versed  in  civil 
engineering,  mechanics  and  architecture,  but  was  at  the  same 
time  a  successful  farmer,  miner,  miller  and  manufacturer.  To 
the  day  of  his  death  the  project  of  a  great  railroad  that  should 
unite  the  eastern  and  western  sections  of  the  State  absorbed  his 
heart  and  brain.  Such  a  road  would  not  only  confer  economic 
advantages  by  permitting  a  ready  exchange  of  products  between 
the  east  and  the  west,  but  would  at  the  same  time  harmonize  long 
divided  counsels,  and  thus  create  a  solidarity  of  sentiment  and 
a  community  of  interest  that  the  State  had  hitherto  sorely  lacked. 
The  idea  was  not  new,  but  no  one  man  contributed  so  much  to 
its  practical  realization  as  did  Governor  Morehead. 

The  author  of  the  bill  to  charter  the  North  Carolina  Railroad 
Company  was  Hon.  W.  S.  Ashe,  an  eastern  Democrat,  but  a  friend 
of  the  west.*  The  bill  was  passed  during  the  session  of  1848-49, 
the  vote  of  Calvin  Graves,  the  Democratic  speaker  from  Caswell 
County,  having  broken  the  tie  in  the  Senate.    In  Governor  More- 

*Kcrr  Memorial,  p.  30. 

"Sec  Charles  Clinton  Weaver's  "Internal  Improvements  in  North  Caro- 
lina Previous  to  i860"  (Johns  Hopkins  Dissertation,  1903,  p.  91). 


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256  NORTH  CAROLINA 

head's  first  report  to  the  General  Assembly  as  president  of  the 
road  he  characterizes  the  bill  as  follows:  *'The  passage  of  the 
act  under  which  this  company  is  organized  was  the  dawning  of 
hope  to  North  Carolina ;  the  securing  of  its  charter  was  the  rising 
sun  of  that  hope ;  the  completion  of  the  road  will  be  the  meridian 
glory  of  that  hope,  pregnant  with  results  that  none  living  can 
divine."^  In  his  last  report  to  the  stockholders  in  1866,  a  month 
and  a  half  before  his  death,  he  thus  summarizes  what  had  been 
accomplished :  **On  January  29,  1856,  trains  could  run  from  Char- 
lotte to  Goldsboro,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
miles.  June  7,  1858,  found  the  roadbed  of  the  Atlantic  and  North 
Carolina  Railroad  ready  for  trains  from  Goldsboro  to  Beaufort 
Harbor,  and  a  few  months  thereafter  found  the  trains  running  to 
within  a  few  miles  of  Morganton  on  the  western  extension.  .  .  . 
In  seven  years  we  have  built  of  this  great  line  three  hundred  and 
fifty-two  miles  in  one  continuous  line."* 

Governor  Morehead's  undisputed  primacy  in  all  the  afiFairs 
of  the  road  is  thus  gratefully  acknowledged  by  the  stockholders 
in  their  first  meeting  in  Greensboro  after  his  death :  **By  none  can 
his  merits  be  longer  and  better  remembered  than  by  us  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  lean  on  his  direction  and  be  guided  by  his 
wisdom  in  the  services  of  this  company,  in  his  earnest  industry 
in  securing  its  charter,  in  his  manly  and  untiring  efforts  to  induce 
the  doubting  citizens  along  its  line  to  shoulder  the  enterprise,  in 
his  sleepless  energy  and  zeal  through  all  its  dark  days  and  early 
beginnings,  as  its  first  president  and  chief  builder,  from  which 
no  factious  opposition  or  false  clamor  could  for  an  instant  divert 
him  from  his  great  purpose  to  imbed  in  the  soil  of  his  native 
State,  in  his  own  day  and  under  his  own  direction,  *a  great 
central  trunk  railway,'  as  the  best  deliverance  of  her  citizens  from 
commercial  and  agricultural  bondage."* 

As  to  the  significance  of  the  road  in  the  history  of  the  State 

*See    "North    Carolina   Railroad    Reports,"    Raleigh,    1850,    Executive 
Doc.  IX.,  p.  5. 
•See  "Proceedings,"  July  12,  1866,  pp.  42-47. 
•See  "Proceedings,"  July  11,  1867.  p.  6;  also  the  Kerr  Memorial,  pp.  79. 80. 


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JOHN  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  257 

there  can  be  no  question.  The  granting  of  the  charter  was,  says 
Hon.  Rufus  Barringer/  **the  basis  and  the  beginning  of  our  entire 
present  system  of  internal  improvement,  now  reaching  and  inter- 
secting every  part  of  the  State."  "The  construction  of  this  work," 
says  Captain  S.  A.  Ashe,*  "has  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the 
State  and  people.  It  has  largely  obliterated  the  intense  section- 
alism that  previously  divided  the  east  and  the  west  It  has  afforded 
to  the  center  and  west  commercial  facilities  that  were  absolutely 
necessary  for  material  and  social  development.  During  the  war 
it  was  of  the  greatest  advantage.  It  was  built  without  costing 
the  people  of  the  State  anything  in  the  way  of  taxes;  and  for 
forty  years  it  has  yielded  the  State  some  revenue  without  any 
expenditure  by  the  people.  The  State  owes  about  $2,750,000  of 
bonds  for  its  stock;  and  its  stock  can  be  sold  at  present  quota- 
tions for  $5,250,000." 

In  1861  Governor  Morehead  was  selected,  with  Chief  Justice 
Ruffin,  Ex-Governor  Reid,  Hon.  George  Davis  and  Hon.  Daniel 
M.  Barringer,  to  represent  North  Carolina  in  the  famous  peace 
convention  which  met  in  Washington  on  February  4th  of  that  year 
to  devise  some  compromise  by  which  collision  between  North  and 
South  might  be  averted.  Governor  Morehead  had  always  been 
a  strong  Union  man,  but  he  returned  from  the  peace  convention 
fully  convinced  that  secession  was  unavoidable.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  devoted  his  means  and  energies  unstintedly  to  the  Confed* 
erate  cause. 

The  close  of  the  war  found  him  reduced  in  fortune*  and  broken 

*Scc  his  "History  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad,"  p.  3  (a  paper  read 
May  10,  1894,  before  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Society  at  the  Univcr- 
flity  of  North  Carolina). 

'See  his  extracts  from  and  comments  upon  General  Barringer's  paper 
in  The  Daily  News  and  Observer,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  February  5, 1905. 

•Governor  Morehead's  estate,  however,  was  less  involved  than  that  of 
many  others,  because  he  owned  comparatively  few  slaves.  His  wife  had 
been  reared  near  the  New  Garden  Church,  which  was  abolitionist  in  senti- 
ment, and  had  always  opposed  her  husband's  investing  largely  in  slaves. 
(Letter  from  Mrs.  L.  H.  Walker.) 


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2S8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

in  health.  One  year  later,  August  27,  1866,  he  died  peacefully 
and  resignedly  at  the  Rockbridge  Alum  Springs  in  Virginia.  He 
retained  his  mental  faculties  to  the  last,  and  only  a  few  days 
before  his  death  discussed  the  industrial  needs  of  the  South  so 
ably  that  a  friend  exclaimed  on  leaving  the  room,  "Is  it  possible 
he  can  be  in  a  dying  condition  ?  He  has  laid  out  fifty  years'  work 
for  us  in  this  conversation  alone !" 

At  his  death,  which  preceded  that  of  his  wife  only  one  year. 
Governor  Morehead  left  the  following  family,  of  which  only 
Mrs.  L.  H.  Walker  and  Major  J.  Turner  Morehead  survive: 
Mrs.  L.  H.  Walker,  Mrs.  Waightstill  Avery,  Mrs.  Colonel  Peter 
Evans,  Mrs.  R.  L.  Patterson,  Mrs.  Julius  A.  Gray,  John  L.  More- 
head,  Major  J.  Turner  Morehead  and  Eugene  L.  Morehead. 

Governor  Morehead's  life  spanned  a  period  of  the  nineteenth 
century  marked  by  unparalleled  economic  change  and  industrial 
enterprise.  Between  the  years  1830  and  1845  railroads  were  first 
built,  telegraph  lines  were  first  stretched  and  the  ocean  was  crossed 
for  the  first  time  by  steam-propelled  vessels.  He  was  in  a  sense  the 
child  of  his  age,  for  he  felt  the  thrill  of  the  new  life  and  saw 
clearly  the  promise  of  material  and  commercial  greatness  that  the 
new  forces  prophesied.  But  never  for  a  moment  did  he  lose  sight 
of  those  finer  viftufes  without  which  material  progress  becomes 
gross  and  sordid.  In  his  character  there  was  the  blend  of  gentle- 
ness and  strength,  of  generosity  and  business  sagacity,  of  social 
charm  and  rugged  principle.  Wealth  was  to  him  the  means  of 
doing  good,  and  high  station  the  opportunity  of  public  service. 
Though  he  was  the  pioneer  manufacturer  in  the  South,  he  trans- 
mits to  this  age  not  merely  the  lesson  of  industrial  enterprise  and 
material  progress,  but  of  these  wrought  into  the  finer  forces  of 
character  and  used  only  for  high  social  and  civic  ends. 

C.  Alphofiso  Smith. 


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TILDLW  FO'JNDA'iicNS 
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JAMES  TURNER   MOREHEAD 

^HE  subject  of  this  sketch  has  served  this  State 
on  the  battlefield,  in  legislative  councils  and 
not  only  as  a  manufacturer,  but  in  the  depart- 
ment of  applied  science,  in  which,  indeed,  he 
has  not  only  gained  high  distinction,  but 
has  been  of  service  to  the  world  in  producing 
economic  results. 

James  Turner  Morehead  was  one  of  the  younger  sons  of  Gov- 
ernor John  M.  Morehead  and  his  wife,  Ann  Eliza  Lindsay,  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Robert  Lindsay  of  Guilford  County,  and  he 
was  bom  at  Greensboro  in  August,  1840,  on  the  day  his  father 
was  elected  governor  of  the  State. 

His  early  surroundings  were  in  every  respect  admirable.  The 
associations  of  his  youth  were  calculated  to  develop  the  finer 
qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  he  had  inherited  from  his 
parents,  while  he  was  naturally  gifted  with  an  affectionate  dis- 
position and  a  courtesy  that  distinguished  him  among  his  fellows. 
Early  trained  in  the  best  preparatory  schools,  he  entered  the 
University  in  1857,  and  graduated  at  that  institution  in  June,  1861, 
with  a  class  which  had  enrolled  among  its  members  124  names. 
His  conduct  had  been  excellent,  and  he  had  applied  himself 
with  such  diligence  to  his  studies  that  he  shared  with  four 
others  the  first  honors  of  his  class  throughout  the  entire  term 
of  four  years. 


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26o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  State  was  in  the  throes  of  war  when  he  emerged  from 
the  groves  of  Chapel  Hill,  and  'animated  by, the  patriotic  spirit 
which  distinguished  his  family,  he  quickly  connected  himself  with 
the  cavalry  service  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  continued  in 
the  field  until  incapacitated  by  wounds  that  were  at  first  thought 
mortal. 

On  the  organization  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  which  is  borne  on 
the  roll  as  the  Sixty-third  Regiment,  he  became  adjutant  of  that 
fine  regiment,  and  shared  in  all  of  its  varied  experiences.  He  was 
always  in  the  thickest  of  the  fray.  "At  Upperville,  on  the  21st  of 
June,  1863,  the  Federal  cavalry  began  to  advance,  and  Colonel 
Evans  wished  to  charge.  General  Stuart  thought  best  not  to 
charge,  but  finally  yielded  to  Colonel  Evans's  wishes.  This  charge 
stopped  the  Federal  advance,  but,"  says  Major  John  M.  Galloway, 
in  his  account  of  that  regiment,  "at  quite  a  loss  to  us.  Colonel 
Evans  was  mortally  wounded  and  captured  and  quite  a  number 
wounded.  Adjutant  Morehead  had  many  holes  in  his  clothing  and 
several  skin  wounds,  but  nothing  serious. 

"In  the  Bristoe  Station  campaign  the  regiment  did  its  full  share 
of  fighting  and  bore  its  full  share  of  the  losses,  and  here  it  suffered 
a  severe  loss,  for  Adjutant  Morehead  was  desperately  wounded. 
A  bullet  struck  him  full  in  the  mouth,  breaking  nearly  all  of  his 
front  teeth  and  passing  out  at  the  back  of  his  neck,  narrowly 
missing  his  spinal  column.  The  wound  was  first  thought  to  be 
mortal,  but  youthful  hope  and  a  good  constitution  saved  him. 
It  was  long  before  he  recovered,  and  the  regiment  after  that  was 
deprived  of  his  efficient  services."  His  wounds  incapacitated  him 
for  service  in  the  field,  and  when  he  left  the  hospital  he  was 
assigned  to  post  duty,  and  so  continued  until  the  end  of  the  war. 
He  was  parolled  by  General  Johnston  at  the  final  surrender. 

In  December,  1864,  he  was  married  to  Mary  Lily  Connally,  a 
niece  of  Nicholas  Lanier  Williams  of  Yadkin  County;  and  im- 
mediately after  the  cessation  of  hostilities  he  was  employed  in 
the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  wool  at  Spray,  in  Rockingham 
County,  where  he  made  his  home. 

In  the  devastation  following  the  Civil  War,  the  establishing  of 


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JAMES  TURNER  MOREHEAD  261 

manufacturing  industries  in  North  Carolina  was  practically  evolu- 
tion from  very  scant  beginnings. 

Before  the  Civil  War  each  farmer  had  a  flock  of  sheep  and 
a  flax  patch.  He  bought  cotton  yam  for  warp  and  used  flax 
filling  for  summer  and  wool  filling  for  winter  clothes  for  the 
slaves  and  to  a  large  extent  for  his  family.  The  wool  was  carded 
and  made  into  loose  rolls  an  inch  in  diameter  and  about  thirty 
inches  long.  These  rolls  were  spun  into  threads  on  the  old  spin- 
ning wheels,  and  was  carded  and  spun  where  grown,  and  the 
threads  were  dyed  principally  with  bark  dyes,  and  cloth  was  pro- 
duced on  the  hand  looms.  Such  were  the  old  methods ;  under  the 
new  conditions  of  manufacturing,  the  operators  had  to  be  taught 
and  trained,  and  the  bulk  of  the  consumers  had  to  be  educated  up 
to  the  use  of  machine-made  fabrics.  When  the  farmer  brought  his 
wool  to  be  carded,  he  was  invited  to  exchange  it  for  manufactured 
products,  from  art  squares,  blankets  and  linseys  to  bright-dyed 
wool  )rams. 

With  the  energy  and  intelligence  that  have  characterized  Mr. 
Morehead  throughout  life,  and  which  made  him  so  efficient  as  a 
Confederate  soldier,  he  now  applied  himself  to  the  various  duties 
necessary  in  these  new  operations.  And  he  soon  became  master 
of  the  details  of  his  business,  overcoming  all  obstacles  and  meeting 
with  gratifying  success.  He  became  a  forceful  man  in  those 
uncertain  times  in  his  community,  and  was  a  leader  in  thought  as 
well  as  in  the  activities  of  business. 

In  1867  the  negroes  were  invested  with  the  right  of  suffrage 
by  Congress ;  and  this  change  in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  com- 
monwealth ushered  in  a  period  of  great  excitement  and  turmoil. 
In  1870  political  and  social  matters  in  that  section  of  the  State 
assumed  an  alarming  aspect.  Governor  Holden  declared  Caswell, 
the  neighboring  county,  in  insurrection,  and  it  was  occupied  by 
Colonel  Kirk  and  his  soldiers,  and  martial  law  supplanted  civil 
law.  Hundreds  of  the  best  citizens  were  arrested  by  Colonel  Kirk, 
and  a  military  court  was  appointed  to  try  them,  it  being  under- 
stood that  the  people  were  to  be  terrorized  by  wholesale  military 
executions.     There  was  great  indignation  at  these  proceedings, 


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262  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  every  man  felt  the  immanency  of  the  crisis.  Under  these  con- 
ditions Major  Morehead  turned  from  his  business  and  entered 
actively  into  politics,  and  in  the  midst  of  these  occurrences,  in 
August,  1870,  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  county  of  Rocking- 
ham in  the  State  Senate.  In  several  respects  this  was  the  most 
important  Assembly  that  ever  convened  in  North  Carolina.  It 
was  controlled  by  the  Conservatives,  who  came  into  power  after 
the  disorders  and  riotous  proceedings  of  the  Republican  Party 
during  the  preceding  two  years.  The  laws  of  the  State  had  to 
be  modified,  the  finances  rescued  from  bankruptcy  and  a  school 
system  established,  and  the  people  demanded  the  punishment  of 
those  who  had  subverted  the  constitution  of  the  State.  Governor 
Holden  was  impeached  by  the  House  and  was  tried  by  the  Senate, 
the  chief  justice  presiding.  On  this  trial  Major  Morehead  voted 
guilty,  and  the  governor  was  deprived  of  his  office  and  rendered 
incapable  of  holding  office  again  in  North  Carolina.  Major  More- 
head  was  an  active  member  of  the  Senate,  and  participated  in 
perfecting  the  legislation  then  adopted,  which  has  proved  so  bene- 
ficial to  the  people  of  the  State.  His  conduct  was  so  acceptable 
to  his  constituents  that  two  years  later  he  was  returned  again 
to  the  Senate,  and  he  continued  to  exert  a  strong  influence  in 
public  affairs;  and  a  constitutional  convention  being  called  in 
1875,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  that  body,  and  was  one  of  the 
most  important  of  the  members,  because  of  his  intelligence,  his 
firmness  and  his  purpose  to  remedy  the  ills  that  afflicted  the  people. 
The  period  from  1870  to  the  end  of  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion of  1875  covered  the  crucial  days  of  reform  subsequent  to  the 
ills  of  Reconstruction.  It  was  a  period  of  constant  struggle,  and 
called  forth  the  best  action  of  the  patriotic  citizens  of  the  State. 
During  those  five  years  Major  Morehead,  associated  with  many 
other  young  men  who  had  endured  the  experiences  of  the  war, 
diligently  applied  himself  to  rescuing  the  State  from  the  evils 
that  had  overtaken  our  people  and  to  establishing  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  in  control  of  public  affairs.  In  this  work  he  played  an 
important  part  and  exerted  a  strong  influence.  He  was  ever 
conservative,  but  was  resolute,  fearless  and  determined.    What- 


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JAMES  TURNER  MOREHEAD  263 

ever  measure  he  advocated  had  the  more  favorable  consideration 
because  of  the  fact  that  he  approved  it,  and  whatever  measure  he 
disapproved  was  generally  therefore  regarded  as  inexpedient. 
Following  the  convention  of  1875,  Governor  Vance  was  elected 
governor  of  the  State,  and  the  great  work  of  reform  was  ac- 
complished. Those  active,  energetic  men  who  had  applied  their 
shoulders  to  the  wheel  to  rescue  the  State  from  her  troubles  and 
difficulties,  but  who  had  no  purpose  to  seek  a  political  career,  now 
felt  that  the  burden  was  removed  and  that  they  could  leave  public 
affairs  in  other  hands  and  devote  themselves  to  their  private  busi- 
ness; and  Major  Morehead  now  became  engrossed  in  manu- 
facturing and  other  enterprises  in  which  he  was  engaged.  Spray, 
where  he  had  established  himself,  became  an  important  industrial 
center.  From  a  village  of  300  inhabitants  in  1867,  it  has  now 
over  6000  inhabitants,  all  engaged  in  manufacturing,  the  result 
of  Major  Morehead's  operations  there. 

Addition  followed  addition  in  the  development  of  Major  More- 
head's  business  interests.  To  manufacturing  woollen  and  cotton 
goods  he  united  mining  and  the  development  of  the  resources  of 
that  section  where  he  had  his  home.  He  was  an  important  factor 
in  the  inception  and  building  of  the  North  Carolina  Midland  Rail- 
road, and  was  one  of  the  ten  men  who  purchased  from  the  State 
the  old  Western  Railroad  and  undertook  to  build  the  Cape  Fear 
and  Yadkin  Valley  Road.  This  was  one  of  the  most  important 
enterprises  of  that  period  undertaken  by  citizens  of  the  State.  The 
gentlemen  interested  performed  a  great  work,  but  it  was  at  a 
heavy  expense ;  and  unhappily  for  them  and  for  the  State,  a  great 
panic  occurred  most  unexpectedly,  which  overturned  their  plans, 
entailing  personal  loss  and  requiring  the  sacrifice  of  their  property. 
But  the  road  was  built  and  has  been  a  great  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  that  part  of  the. State  which  it  traverses. 

North  Carolina  was  the  first  State  to  have  a  Geological  Survey. 
Governor  Morehead  was  its  early  and  lifelong  friend,  and,  fol- 
lowing in  the  footsteps  of  his  illustrious  father,  Major  Morehead 
threw  all  of  his  influence  to  maintain  that  department,  and  even 
assisted  the  Survey  with  his  private  means.    While  in  the  legis- 


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264  NORTH  CAROLINA 

lature,  he  sought  to  foster  the  Survey,  and,  indeed,  manifested 
more  interest  in  its  welfare  than  any  other  member  of  that  body, 
and  when  the  Survey  was  re-established,  in  1891,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Board  of  Control,  and  continued  in  the  performance 
of  that  duty  for  fourteen  years.  During  that  period  he  was  more 
influential  in  connection  with  the  work  of  this  Survey  than  any 
other  citizen,  except  alone  Professor  Holmes,  who  was  at  its  head. 
By  this  work  he  contributed  much  to  the  welfare  of  the  State,  and 
earned  another  title  to  the  gratitude  of  the  people  for  his  intelligent 
action  in  their  behalf. 

At  Spray  he  established  a  laboratory,  which  did  most  important 
work.  "Two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  electrical  horse-power 
in  Europe  and  40,000  in  America  are  now  employed  in  the  pro- 
duction of  carbide  of  calcium,  from  which  acetylene  gas  is  made. 
This  electro-chemical  product  was  first  commercially  produced 
by  Major  Morehead  at  Spray.  His  plants  in  Virginia  and  West 
Virginia  have  since  1898  supplied  all  tjie  chromium  that  has  gone 
into  the  armor  plate  used  by  the  United  States,  and  large  quantities 
are  exported  to  Sheffield  to  the  leading  English  manufacturers  of 
armor  plate." 

In  the  course  of  his  business  he*  became  interested  in  smelting 
refractory  ores,*  and  after  long-continued  effort  and  large  ex- 
penditures he  demonstrated  the  commercial  and  practical  possi- 
bilities of  the  electric  arc  in  that  work.  This  was  first  demon- 
strated at  Spray,  North  Carolina.  The  outcome  astonished  the 
scientific  world,  and  the  result  was  commended  by  such  men  as  Lord 
Kelvin ;  and  it  was  declared  by  Professor  Vivian  B.  Lewes,  F.I.C., 
professor  of  chemistry,  Royal  Naval  College,  Greenwich,  before 
an  assembly  of  learned  experts,  to  be  epoch  making;  and  since 
then  the  results  obtained  have  had  a  world-wide  influence,  and 
have  been  accompanied  by  important  economic  benefits. 

Deeply  interested  in  electro-chemical  and  metallurgical  aflPairs, 
Major  Morehead  found  it  interesting  to  be  in  closer  touch  with 
those  engaged  in  similar  works,  and  was  led  by  that  consideration 
to  make  his  home  in  New  York,  where  he  now  resides. 

S.  A,  Ashe. 


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EUGENE    LINDSAY    MOREHEAD 

[he  youngest  son  of  Governor  JohnM.Morehead 
and  his  wife,  Ann  Eliza  Lindsay,  was  Eugene 
Lindsay  Morehead,  who  was  bom  at  his  father's 
home  in  Greensboro  on  the  i6th  of  September, 
^'  V^'^fefi?  ^^45'  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  father  was  returning  to  private 
jj^J^^X^)^^^  life  after  four  years'  service  as  governor  of  the 
State.  During  the  period  of  his  youth  his  father  was  among  the 
most  important  and  busiest  men  in  North  Carolina.  He  had  built 
the  North  Carolina  Railroad,  of  which  he  was  the  president,  and 
in  1858  completed  the  construction  of  the  Atlantic  and  North 
Carolina  Railroad,  in  which  he  was  much  interested,  and  had 
founded  the  city  of  Morehead,  which  was  expected  to  become 
a  mercantile  emporium  of  the  State.  As  great  as  had  been 
Governor  Morehead's  service  in  political  capacities  and  in  other 
fields  of  public  work,  the  chief  and  most  important  benefit  he  con- 
ferred on  the  people  of  the  State  was  the  construction  of  the 
three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  railway  built  through  his  en- 
deavors, the  work  being  accomplished  in  seven  years  after  he  began 
it.  Those  were  busy  years  for  him,  taxing  his  unsurpassed  energy 
and  fine  capacity  and  withdrawing  him  much  from  his  domestic 
circle;  but  they  made  still  more  apparent  his  great  worth  as  a 
public  man,  and  he  constantly  ranked  higher  and  higher  among  the 
illustrious  citizens  of  the  State. 

In  his  early  youth  the  subject  of  this  sketch  enjoyed  all  the 


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i 


266  NORTH  CAROLINA 

advantages  of  a  happy  home  and  of  associations  with  refined  and 
cultivated  friends,  and  he  had  the  best  educational  advantages  the 
State  afforded.  After  an  excellent  preparatory  training,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina  in 
1862,  and  for  two  years  applied  himself  closely  to  his  studies.  But 
the  need  for  soldiers  in  the  field  became  great,  and  the  young  as 
well  as  the  old  were  required  to  fill  the  depleted  ranks  of  the 
battalions  defending  the  beleaguered  Southland.  At  college  with 
Mr.  Morehead  were  Julian  S.  Carr,  F.  H.  Busbee  and  others  who, 
like  him,  were  animated  by  patriotic  spirit  and  could  not  remain 
in  the  quiet  pursuit  of  an  education  when  they  had  attained 
sufficient  age  and  size  to  serve  their  country  in  the  field.  Lee  was 
hard  pressed  in  Virginia,  Charleston  besieged  and  New-Bern, 
Washington  and  Plymouth  were  in  possession  of  the  Federal 
forces,  while  Wilmington  was  threatened.  As  the  Federal  coil 
tightened  on  the  exhausted  South,  even  the  young  students  sprang 
with  alacrity  to  supply  the  vacancies  made  by  fallen  veterans,  and 
nowhere  was  there  more  patriotic  spirit  manifested  than  at  the 
University  of  North  Carolina.  Eugene  Morehead  and  others  of 
his  class  entered  the  Junior  Reserves,  and  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  be 
ordered  to  Smith's  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear,  to  aid 
in  the  defense  of  Wilmington.  The  battalion  of  which  he  was 
a  member  was  thrown  with  others  into  a  temporary  brigade  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  John  M.  Connally,  one  of  the  bravest  of 
the  brave.  Colonel  Connally  had  been  educated  at  the  Naval 
Academy,  and  by  his  courage,  dash  and  intrepidity  he  reflected 
credit  on  that  nursery  of  gallant  officers.  He  had  fallen  at  Gettys- 
burg desperately  wounded,  and  had  lost  his  arm  by  amputation ; 
but  his  spirit  still  flamed  with  patriotic  fire.  A  man  of  fine  dis- 
cernment and  judgment,  on  the  organization  of  his  brigade  he 
selected  Eugene  Morehead  as  a  member  of  his  staff,  and  obtained 
for  him  an  appointment  as  lieutenant,  and  had  him  assigned  to 
duty  at  brigade  headquarters.  The  organization  served  on  the 
Cape  Fear  until  the  end  of  the  year,  and  took  part  in  the  defense 
of  Fort  Fisher  in  the  attack  of  December  24  and  25,  1864,  when 
the  Federal  forces  were  so  successfully  repulsed  as  to  give  hope 


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EUGENE  LINDSAY  MOREHEAD  267 

that  the  fortress  was  impregnable.  Somewhat  later  the  brigade 
was  assigned  to  the  command  of  Colonel  George  Jackson,  with 
whom  it  continued  until  after  the  battle  of  Bentonville.  The  dis- 
asters then  hastening  the  war  to  its  close  prevented  commanding 
officers  from  making  regular  reports  and  perpetuating  the  record 
of  the  gallant  spirits  who  participated  in  the  last  scenes  of  the 
struggle.  The  curtain  fell  when  all  was  in  confusion,  and  the 
particular  acts  of  even  the  most  conspicuous  and  meritorious 
officers  are  rendered  obscure  in  the  absence  of  the  official  reports. 

As  soon  as  practicable  after  the  close  of  the  war.  Lieutenant 
Morehead  returned  to  the  University  and  resumed  his  studies  in 
the  class  of  Fabius  H.  Busbee,  W.  H.  S.  Burgwyn,  Paul  B.  Means 
and  others  who,  like  himself,  had  been  in  the  Confederate  service 
and  who  also  were  destined  in  civil  life  to  achieve  distinction ;  and 
he  received  his  degree  of  A.B.  at  that  institution  at  the  com- 
mencement of  1868. 

At  the  University  he  endeared  himself  to  all  of  his  associates, 
not  merely  because  of  his  manly  characteristics,  but  because  of  his 
courtesy,  refinement  and  gentleness  of  deportment.  One  of  his 
college  companions,  speaking  of  him  afterward,  said:  "With  a 
heart  as  tender  as  a  woman,  and  with  manners  as  polished  as  a 
Chesterfield,  he  was  a  most  enjoyable  companion." 

Mr.  Fabius  H.  Busbee  says: 

"I  first  knew  Eugene  Morehead  as  a  lad  on  a  visit  to  Greensboro,  our 
families  having  been  intimate  since  his  father's  term  as  governor,  but  my 
recollection  of  that  period  is  indistinct,  as  I  was  very  young.  When  I 
entered  college,  in  1863,  he  was  in  the  Sophomore  class,  and  was  unusually 
considerate  at  a  time  when  a  Freshman  appreciated  kindness.  After  the 
war  we  were  in  the  same  class,  he  having  been  absent  two  years  from  the 
University  in  the  army,  and  I  losing  one  year,  and  we  were  graduated 
together  in  1868.  While  we  were  members  of  different  fraternities  and 
different  societies,  I  was  thrown  a  great  deal  with  him,  and  our  friend- 
ship was  close  and  unvarying.  He  was  a  good  student  and  graduated 
in  his  class,  being  awarded  one  of  the  first  distinctions.  He  was  not  dem- 
onstrative, but  had  the  very  warm  friendship  of  the  leading  men  at  the 
University  and  was  a  great  favorite  in  the  village.'' 

Indeed,  he  entwined  himself  in  the  aflFections  of  his  associates, 


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268  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  was  the  best  beloved  of  all  the  students  who  were  at  the 
University  at  that  time. 

After  graduating,  Mr.  Morehead  returned  to  his  home  at 
Greensboro  and  entered  the  bank  over  which  his  uncle,  the 
estimable  Jesse  Lindsay,  presided,  where  he  became  proficient  in 
the  banking  business ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  engaged  in  the  leaf 
tobacco  business  with  one  of  his  relatives.  He  continued  to  reside 
in  Greensboro  about  six  years  and  to  the  time  of  his  marriage. 
Among  the  people  of  that  town  he  was  no  less  popular  and  beloved 
than  he  was  in  college.  Friendly  toward  every  one,  he  himself 
enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the  entire  community.  He  was  indeed 
different  from  many  young  men  of  his  social  standing  and  ample 
means,  for  he  was  neither  ostentatious  nor  difficult  of  approach. 
Gentleness  and  kindliness  were  among  his  characteristics  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave.  To  these  traits  of  character  were  due 
largely  the  friendship  and  love  he  inspired  among  all  who  knew 
him. 

On  January  7,  1874,  Mr.  Morehead  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Lucy  Lathrop,  daughter  of  James  W.  Lalhrop  of  Savannah, 
Georgia,  which  union  was  blessed  with  two  lovely  daughters, 
who  are  now  Mrs.  R.  L.  Patterson  of  New  York  and  Mrs,  John  F. 
Wily  of  Durham,  North  Carolina,  and  one  son,  Lathrop  Morehead. 
For  a  time  he  made  his  residence  in  Savannah,  but  in  1879  he 
returned  to  North  Carolina  and  located  at  Durham,  and  at  once 
became  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  that  comparatively  new  town, 
then  fast  becoming  an  industrial  center  of  the  State.  The  tobacco 
business  was  still  in  its  infancy,  and  he  was  of  the  greatest  benefit 
in  promoting  that  trade.  Opening  the  first  bank  in  Durham,  with 
ample  means,  he  became  the  prop  and  support  of  those  business 
men  who  were  then  seeking  to  expand  that  business;  and  thus 
he  did  more  than  any  other  citizen  in  the  way  of  contributing  to 
the  growth  of  Durham  and  in  establishing  her  industries  on  a  firm 
foundation.  Indeed,  no  man  ever  took  more  pride  and  interest 
in  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  his  home  town,  native  or  adopted, 
than  he  did  in  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Durham.  He  would 
often  say :  "I  am  in  favor  of  anything  for  the  good  of  Durham." 


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EUGENE  LINDSAY  MOREHEAD  269 

In  truth,  he  never  failed  to  do  his  part,  and  more  than  his  part, 
along  that  line.  He  imparted  to  others  his  own  enthusiasm  in 
behalf  of  Durham. 

Courtly  in  his  bearing,  polite  to  all  men  and  always  considerate 
of  the  opinions  of  others,  he  soon  became  a  leader  in  all  enterprises 
that  were  to  the  advantage  of  the  community.  His  public  spirit 
led  him  to  serve  several  terms  upon  the  Board  of  Town  Com- 
missioners, and  he  inaugurated  movements  that  tended  to  the 
advancement  and  progress  of  the  city.  He  was  an  active  member 
of  the  Commonwealth  Qub,  an  organization  that  was  formed  for 
the  very  purpose  of  concentrating  the  energies  of  the  business 
men  on  enterprises  of  improvement,  and  he  was  foremost  in  every 
movement  that  promised  a  benefit  to  the  community.  In  par- 
ticular, his  best  efforts  were  early  enlisted  for  the  establishment 
of  the  graded  school,  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  first  Board  of 
Education,  and  served  as  president  of  that  body  for  several  years, 
and  until  the  graded  school  became  so  successful  in  its  operations 
that  all  opposition  to  it  ceased  and  it  was  cherished  by  all  classes 
of  society. 

As  a  citizen  he  thus  entered  not  merely  into  the  business  and 
industrial  life  of  the  community,  but  he  exerted  a  great  influence, 
that  was  felt  even  in  the  homes  of  the  inhabitants.  One  who  knew 
him  well  says :  "He  had  a  well-rounded  character — one  of  nature's 
noblemen — ^whose  soul  conveyed  his  qualities  to  other  men,  by 
which  they  were  influenced  and  benefited.  Some  men  are  bom 
great;  they  are  great  in  youth  as  well  as  in  mature  age;  they 
are  g^eat  in  society,  in  the  home  circle  and  business;  in  short, 
they  are  great  everywhere  and  at  all  times.  Such  was  the  char- 
acter of  Mr.  Morehead.  Such  was  the  beauty  of  Mr.  Morehead's 
character  that  our  friendship  for  him  was  fraternal  in  feeling. 
His  broad  humanity  transcended  all  sectional  and  social  lines,  and 
the  whole  community  felt  as  if  they  had  a  right  and  title  in  him 
and  to  his  friendship." 

When  stricken  with  the  malady  that  later  proved  to  be  fatal, 
he  went  to  New  Orleans  to  place  himself  under  the  care  of  a 
physician.    After  spending  the  winter  there,  he  returned  to  Dur- 


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270  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ham  much  enfeebled  in  health.  The  citizens  of  Durham,  as  a 
manifestation  of  their  love  and  esteem  for  him,  turned  out  en 
masse  and  met  him  at  the  depot  on  his  arrival  with  a  band  of  music 
and  addresses  of  welcome,  and  escorted  him  to  his  home.  No  higher 
honor  than  this  demonstration  could  have  been  bestowed  on  any 
man.  The  expression  of  regard  and  esteem  of  the  people  was 
spontaneous  and  entirely  sincere.  Mr.  Morehead  was  much 
affected  by  it,  and  remarked  to  his  wife  that  never  before  did  he 
realize  his  unworthiness  of  honors,  and  he  was  powerless  to 
express  his  gratitude  to  his  fellow-citizens. 

At  the  head  of  the  only  banking  institution  at  Durham,  and 
liberally  and  generously  sustaining  all  the  nascent  industries  of 
that  busy  mart,  fostering  the  interests  that  were  dear  to  all  the 
inhabitants,  a  man  of  fine  culture  and  admirable  characteristics, 
one  sees  how  he  became  the  chief  factor  in  the  life  of  his  com- 
munity, and  naturally  he  attained  the  commanding  influence  that 
the  community  accorded  him.  He  always  pressed  for  progress  in 
education  and  in  those  other  lines  that  tended  to  make  the  homes 
more  comfortable,  more  enjoyable  and  more  happy.  He  was  a 
stockholder  in  the  Faucett  Durham  Tobacco  Company,  in  the 
Electric  Light  Company,  in  the  Street  Railway,  in  the  Durham 
Water  Works,  in  the  Durham  Land  and  Security  Company  and 
in  the  Durham  Fertilizer  Company,  and  engaged  in  many  other 
enterprises.  Although  at  the  head  of  the  Morehead  Banking  Com- 
pany, he  also  became  interested  in  the  Fidelity  Bank ;  and,  indeed, 
whatever  promised  to  be  of  advantage  to  the  community  always 
received  his  warm  co-operation.  He  was  first  in  everything  that 
tended  to  the  improvement  of  the  town,  and  was  devotedly  loyal 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  whole  community. 

Mr.  Morehead  was  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
his  record  was  blameless,  and  his  daily  walk  and  conversation  were 
altogether  admirable.  As  a  teacher  of  the  Bible  class,  he  was  ever 
prompt  and  earnest,  magnetic  in  influence  and  winning  in  man- 
ners; his  example  was  always  good  and  his  views  thoroughly 
orthodox.  His  successor  in  his  Bible  class  said  to  his  pupHs: 
"You  can  in  no  way  show  your  appreciation  of  his  labors  and 


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EUGENE  LINDSAY  MOREHEAD  271 

advice  so  much  as  by  emulating  his  noble  life  and  by  more  earnest 
devotion  to  duty  and  good  deeds." 

Making  his  home  in  Durham,  Mr.  Morehead  and  his  accom- 
plished wife  became  the  center  of  a  social  circle  appreciated  for 
its  excellence  and  esteemed  for  its  culture  and  virtues,  and  from 
it  there  radiated  a  beneficent  influence. 

While  still  in  the  midst  of  his  useful  career,  in  the  forty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  Mr.  Morehead  passed  away  at  Savannah  on  the 
27th  of  February,  1889.  His  remains  were  brought  to  Durham, 
and  the  occasion  of  his  funeral  moved  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
to  such  a  demonstration  of  affection  and  mourning  as  had  never 
been  evoked  by  any  similar  sorrow.  The  Durham  Board  of  Trade 
and  the  Durham  Light  Infantry  and  other  organizations  and  a 
large  concourse  of  citizens  repaired  to  the  residence  and  escorted 
the  remains  to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  where  the  obsequies  were 
conducted  with  great  solemnity.  Indeed,  when  the  end  came, 
the  whole  town  was  stricken  with  grief.  Upon  the  lips  of  every 
citizen  was  heard  the  expressions,  "A  good  man  has  gone,"  "A 
man  without  an  enemy,"  "I  have  lost  my  best  friend." 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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JAMES  TURNER   MOREHEAD 

{T  is  a  truism  that  blood  tells.  The  sturdy 
virtues  for  which  the  name  of  Morehead  stands 
were  not  fashioned  in  a  day.  His  ancestry, 
paternal  and  maternal,  comes  from  stuff  of 
which  heroes  and  heroines  were  made.  There 
is  something  in  a  name.  Character  is  neither 
molded  by  environment  nor  built  by  chance.  It  is  the  work,  the 
growth  of  generations.  The  stately  form,  the  erect  bearing,  the 
courtly  manner,  the  fine  poise,  the  superb  figure  and  the  engaging 
personality  of  this  well-rounded  gentleman  are  but  the  harvest 
garnered  from  soil  in  which  a  noble  ancestry  had  planted  and 
cultivated  the  seeds  of  wisdom,  truth  and  virtue.  The  pride  of 
the  name  he  bore  was  a  shield  from  the  vices  that  debase.  His 
strong  character  is  rooted  in  ancestral  cleanness  of  life  and  steadi- 
ness of  purpose.  His  birth  was  in  an  atmosphere  of  lofty  ideals. 
His  rearing  was  amid  surroundings  which  appealed  to  the  best 
that  was  in  him.  And  it  was  withal  a  simple  life  from  which 
came  the  serenity  of  his  temperament,  the  knightliness  of  his  nerve, 
the  bigness  of  his  heart,  the  charm  of  his  character  and  the 
strength  of  his  manhood.  Character  molded  in  ancestral  furnace 
and  fashioned  after  the  ways  of  a  simple  life,  as  was  his,  has  a 
flavor  and  a  strength  of  its  own,  and  towers  above  the  sordid,  the 
sensual  and  the  impure.  It  is  the  product  of  more  than  one 
generation  of  right  living,  high  thinking  and  noble  acting. 


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c -J; 

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MR    MOKIJi!-  \I» 

:  M  1     t'.it     SI  >  ..i     I.  ;  ..       '1    .'*     ^• 
•  ;    ll.-'  t.a'i.    <  f  M    ' • '.   •'.  ;  -* 
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■    ni  .♦   If  '1.    t  .:i  —     l-'-ni    .  * 

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/   :\\  a  \  .'U,'-      (  ^  .;ra  *   ;    .^  i. 
.  't  r.y  •  -.'lii^KK .     li  ;  ^  :..  •  \% 
.    >     iv  :.    1    TM,  f  (•  t:     ••  *  t  .:      / 
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!   1 .  'U'  ••'   Ml   art    ^^t   i!  '^   1  . 


M'»'P    f.  1*   \   .  •  > 


»'     ♦     '.." 


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.  '  -  n  .n  .i^T'"  ,-  •  :<•  .  .*'  1  :r\  • 
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'  •  ^  ■  1   'I  <••  '.;   '•  !•♦.  .    »-  V  .:^  ^  ■   .  ! 

'.'.-..   ^  \  *   '.V  •     .  !      «m;      -   -      • 

!♦    i.   t'.  *  ;■'     '    /r      l    tv    \c   •'    : 


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'Oue^  y^ /^(A^Jic^ 


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r- 


:>r 


»    k   ^ 


.     1  I   KNI-.R    MORI.li!"  \I> 


a  >'  ui-in  t'  .it  i)lM,,(I  I'  W.  '1  \^  -' 
>  '  r  \\'..i'  i:  the  '.a:i..  <  f  M  !•  .  a  i  -: 
;i   t    f.i.-!ii  'IK  I    in    P.    ^l.-x        1 '..-   a  '      -  •  s 


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.   •  t'  "  'J  in  a  r:'n.''      (  l.ara-  •    :    .-  ! 


«ii\i!       •  .•  :i:   I  < -r   h  .  It  f'V  ibaiirt.      it",  ^:l*\^    :• 

.:.' r   t    V     .  .'■  t).  .,(.-,  'Ill-  >!.t^-iL  lu'Mr   in-I  t'.-'    *-*\^ 
"i  i'-..'    .'  -J  I*"!.    '<  (i   ::<  nl^  "T"in  art    '.i:t   li'.*''  1  ..' 


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I 


iv,  !>  if  wi-  '   ni.  Ui't'i  ai  <!  \ir**jf      'i ':e  i:*  '•• 

'  r  1  ^  r     ■<  •'  '-^  :'*^''<  -t r  i!  •/;«  ..rn.--  -i  «  i  .. :<    ',     !  - •    • 
'  \     lli^  '...'.h  \VT>  in  an  nUv*'^  ,  '  ♦  rr  «•*'  i    ;iv  :  " 
■  4-    a*  '  •'       irr     :'.'1m    s  \\'a'i  :  •    •••'.!  *-!   ♦»>  •    •• 
*  •    .   't    •.    i>   V.  :•    al   1   *-  M  •';    \'U'   U'-'n    .  ' 
'♦*!.-•    :!.;•'  ^  .T.'-it,  t'f.-;  »..m\''  t'ir;  •«..■:  1,  •  r    ' 

••  ••.        ,!.     C"!i"-a'*T  rr.  .'.  !i- 1  in  ar'*'^?--!'.  ;•-.    • 
.f .  ^    '>  (*  ^  '  \  ;  ,  {  ^  si'  ^i  !•'  i  :i  .    j^  V  r.N  !:i« .  1 
t'.  r./'  ■  '•:  It-;  :  V.  •%  .VI  I  t   \S'-:<  .  1     '  e  tl      -■  - 
•In'   m.^     -If       It    i>   tl.  •   ;.-  1  vt      f   n-    :c   •'    : 
•*  r.'j^K   1..:  \  -    !•'   1:   tV'.f'.  '.'\j  ai.'!  n-  '  'o  :  r'  -  .: 


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'O^H^  ,<   /^(A.tAJ.^L^(^ 


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JAMES  TURNER  MOREHEAD  273 

This  ancestral  line  runs  back  three  hundred  years  into  the  fine 
blood  of  Scotland.  Virginia  claims  the  first  record  of  this  family 
in  this  country  in  1620.  In  value  and  extent  of  public  service 
the  writer  recalls  no  family  of  more  distinguished  record  in  the 
history  of  this  country.  The  limits  of  this  sketch  forbid  citations 
from  the  records  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  His  grandfather, 
John  Morehead,  who  was  a  valiant  and  intrepid  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  War,  married  Miss  Motley,  a  daughter  of  Captain 
Joseph  Motley,  who  fought  at  Braddock's  defeat  imder  Colonel 
George  Washington.  This  grandmother  had  seven  brothers  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  under  Green  and  Washington.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  Captain  Jatnes  Morehead,  who  was,  on  March  23, 
1779,  appointed  an  officer  in  the  Tenth  North  Carolina  Continental 
Regiment,  served  with  conspicuous  valor  under  General  Sumner. 
One  of  the  most  beautiful  memorial  stones  which  adorns  the 
Battle  Park  of  the  Guilford  Battle  Ground  Association  is  that 
erected  in  honor  of  the  Revolutionary  heroine;  Mrs.  Kerenhappuch 
Turner,  whose  daughter  Elizabeth  was  the  wife  of  Captain  Joseph 
Morehead.  Another  daughter,  Mary,  married  his  brother,  Charles 
Morehead.  John  Morehead  was  a  brother  of  Captain  James 
Morehead,  who  had  also  "commanded  the  nine  months'  men  sent 
to  the  South,"  and  who,  with  Brown,  Waddell  and  Owen,  fought 
the  battle  of  Elizabethtown  and  won  a  memorable  victory  over 
those  Highland  Scotchmen,  the  flower  of  his  Majesty's  soldiery. 
John  Morehead  was  one  of  the  special  detail  ordered  to  convey 
the  prisoners  taken  at  the  battle  of  Cowpens  to  the  mountains  of 
Virginia,  and  was  engaged  in  the  execution  of  this  order  at  the 
time  of  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House.  Later,  John  More- 
head  was  a  member  of  the  Special  Court  of  Rockingham  County, 
where  he  was  always  a  leader.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  he 
and  the  elder  Ruffin  were  pillars  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  their 
day.  John  Morehead  built  old  Mount  Carmel  Church,  which  yet 
stands  in  the  county  of  Rockingham. 

The  maternal  side  of  our  subject's  family  is  scarcely  less  dis- 
tinguished. His  great-grandfather  was  Jeduthan  Harper,  who 
was  one  of  the  delegates  from  Chatham  County  at  Hillsboro  on  the 


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274  NORTH  CAROLINA 

2 1  St  day  of  August,  1775,  and  among  the  first  officers  for  Chatham 
County  appointed  at  that  time  by  that  body,  he  was  named  as 
lieutenant-colonel.  Chatham  County  also  sent  him  as  a  member  of 
the  Congress  held  at  Halifax,  North  Carolina,  on  November  12, 
1776,  which  framed  our  first  State  constitution.  Four  years  later 
he  appears  as  the  first  representative  in  the  House  of  Commons 
from  the  county  of  Randolph,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life. 

An  interesting  coincidence  is  the  fact  that  Colonel  James  T. 
Morehead,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  a  member  of  the  last 
House  of  Commons  under  the  old  constitution  from  Guilford  and 
his  great-grandfather,  Robert  Lindsay,  was  a  member  of  the  first 
House  of  Commons  in  1776.  The  Harpers  in  Randolph  and  the 
Lindsays  in  Guilford  were  the  substantial  leaders  in  the  early  years 
of  the  last  century,  and  their  descendants  are  yet  among  the  influ- 
ential and  respected  of  the  best  element  of  our  people.  The 
branch  of  the  Morehead  family  in  Kentucky  was  honored  with 
the  highest  positions  within  the  gift  of  the  people  of  that  State. 
Charles  and  James  T.  Morehead  were  each  governor  of  that  State, 
and  later  each  represented  Kentucky  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
One  of  North  Carolina's  greatest  governors  was  John  Motley 
Morehead,  whose  scheme  of  internal  improvements  will  perpetu- 
ate his  name  for  all  time.  His  brother,  James  Turner  Morehead, 
one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  his  generation,  and  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Congress,  1851-53,  was  the  father  of  our  subject. 
His  wife  was  Mary  Lindsay.  Another  son.  Major  Joseph  M. 
Morehead,  president  of  the  Guilford  Battle  Ground  Company,  is 
still  living. 

Colonel  James  Turner  Morehead,  who  bears  the  name  of  his 
father,  was  born  on  the  28th  day  of  May,  1838,  and  was  prepared 
for  college  at  the  great  school  of  Dr.  Alexander  Wilson,  at  Mel- 
ville, Alamance  County,  North  Carolina.  Twenty  years  later,  in 
1858,  he  graduated  with  first  distinction  at  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  His  law  course  was  pursued  at  Richmond  Hill  under 
Chief  Justice  Pearson,  which  he  completed  in  i860.  The  war 
followed.    True  to  the  traditions  of  his  noble  lineage,  he  enlisted 


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JAMES  TURNER  MOREHEAD  275 

in  the  cause  reluctantly  espoused  by  the  people  of  North  Carolina. 
His  service  in  the  field  was  what  might  have  been  expected  from 
the  scion  of  a  line  of  heroes  and  heroines.  From  second  lieutenant, 
his  promotion  was  won  to  the  position  of  colonel  of  the  Fifty-third 
North  Carolina  Regiment,  which  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  capture 
on  the  25th  day  of  March,  1865,  at  Hare's  Hill,  in  front  of  Peters- 
burg. He  was  in  the  last  charge  in  which  the  Confederates  broke 
for  the  last  time  the  lines  of  the  enemy,  and  was  taken  a  prisoner 
inside  of  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  He  was  wounded  three  times, 
and  gave  ungrudgingly  of  his  blood  and  four  of  the  choicest  years 
of  his  life  to  his  country.  In  war  as  in  peace  he  measured  always 
up  to  the  full  share  of  duty,  and  wore  the  white  flower  of  a  flawless 
record.  He  never  forgot  his  proud  heritage,  and  added  new  luster 
to  the  honored  name  he  bore  to  the  front. 

At  the  end  of  the  war  he  returned  to  the  stricken  home,  and 
again  touched  elbows  with  comrades  in  the  stupendous  task  of 
rebuilding  that  which  had  been  swept  and  torn  down  by  the  ruth- 
less tread  of  a  victorious  army.  Like  his  distinguished  father,  he 
preferred  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  since  1865,  with  rare  inter- 
ruption, he  has  pursued  his  profession  with  diligence,  with  pride 
and  with  success.  While  the  most  flattering  political  honors  have 
been  within  his  reach,  he  has  seldom  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of 
his  friends,  who  have  been  ever  ready  to  honor  him  with  their 
support  and  confidence.  In  1866  he  served  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons from  Guilford.  Again  in  1872,  1873,  ^874  and  1875  he  was 
the  senator  from  Guilford,  and  when  Lieutenant-Governor  Cald- 
well became  governor,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Senate,  and 
discharged  the  duties  of  lieutenant-governor.  He  was  one  time, 
in  1888,  induced  to  accept  the  nomination  for  Congress,  but  after 
a  most  brilliant  canvass  was  defeated,  owing  to  peculiar  conditions 
existing  in  his  district,  for  which  he  was  not  accountable.  In 
1882  the  Democratic  convention  of  this  senatorial  district,  believ- 
ing him  to  be  the  strongest  and  most  available,  if  not  the  only  man, 
tendered  him  the  nomination  against  his  wishes,  and  the  result 
vindicated  its  wisdom.  Time  and  again  he  has  been  importuned 
without  success  to  accept  the  standard  of  his  party  in  other  con- 


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276  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tests.  Whilst  loyal  always  to  the  Democratic  Party  and  a  stead- 
fast adherent  of  its  faith,  he  has  never  overlooked  the  jealousy 
of  his  mistress,  the  law.  Nor  has  he  ever  failed  to  accord  to  his 
fellow-citizens  the  fullest  liberty  of  speech  and  action  in  all  things. 

He  is  of  the  Presbyterian  faith,  and  for  long  years  has  been  a 
"high  private  in  the  rear  ranks"  of  the  old  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Greensboro,  North  Carolina.  His  consistency,  his 
simple  faith,  his  sterling  integrity,  his  quiet  alms,  his  charity,  his 
generous  deeds,  his  kindly  words,  his  steady  gait  at  all  times  and 
his  fine  poise  of  character  are  read  in  the  daily  walk  of  his  daily 
life.  The  simple  life  is  his.  Without  frills,  or  Bounces,  or 
furbelows,  he  pursues  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  and  never  allows 
friend  or  foe  to  disturb  the  calm  of  his  honest  soul.  It  is  as  a 
lawyer  that  he  is  best  known  and  best  appreciated.  He  is  in  love 
with  his  profession,  and  so  clean  and  straight  has  been  his  career, 
that  he  has  given  his  profession  added  prestige  in  the  confidence 
of  the  people.  He  is  not  a  book  lawyer,  but  he  knows  what  is 
in  the  books.  His  skill  in  the  management  of  the  trial  of  a  case 
before  a  jury  is  not  surpassed  by  any  lawyer  of  his  day  in  this 
State.  His  skill  in  the  cross-examination  of  a  witness  is  un- 
matched. He  is  a  unique  character  in  the  court-house.  His  quaint 
style  and  manner  of  speech  and  action  captivate  the  audience.  He 
is  the  most  entertaining  lawyer  in  the  trial  of  a  case  the  writer 
ever  saw.  He  never  fails  to  evoke  laughter  from  the  judge,  the 
jury  and  the  crowd.  Every  juror  prefers  to  be  in  his  case.  He 
knows  there  is  fun  ahead.  The  judges  do  not  hesitate  to  express 
their  pleasure  in  listening  to  his  unique,  homespun  and  humorous 
arguments.  It  is  a  dull  case  out  of  which  the  unique  colonel 
cannot  bring  some  humor. 

He  is  the  only  lawyer  in  Piedmont,  North  Carolina,  who  keeps 
up  the  old  custom  of  riding  his  circuit.  The  people  of  Randolph, 
Rockingham,  Alamance  and  Stokes  do  not  count  it  a  court  without 
the  presence  of  Colonel  Morehead.  His  name  will  live  longer  in 
the  traditions  of  the  people  of  his  circuit  than  that  of  any  other 
living  man  of  his  day.  He  has  enjoyed  an  extensive  practice,  and 
has  appeared  in  nearly  all  the  important  litigation  of  his  circuit 


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JAMES  TURNER  MOREHEAD 


277 


for  more  than  thirty  years.  He  grasps  the  saUent  points  in  his 
case  and  drives  them  home  with  unerring  effect.  The  most  note- 
worthy thing  in  his  forensic  battles  is  that  he  never  loses  his  head 
under  any  provocation,  and  is  always  cool.  His  professional  life 
is  a  success.  He  has  never  married.  He  is  still  in  the  enjoyment 
of  his  matured  strength  and  unimpaired  powers.  His  place  in  the 
esteem  of  his  profession  and  the  people  is  permanent  and  exalted. 
North  Carolina  owns  no  finer  gentleman.  His  character  is  as 
white  as  the  untouched  face  of  a  summer's  rose.  Without  excep- 
tion, he  is  the  discreetest  and  the  manliest  man  the  writer  knows 
on  earth  to-day. 

G.  S.  Bradshaw. 


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JOSEPH    MOTLEY   MOREHEAD 

[OSEPH  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  of  Greens- 
boro is  a  member  of  the  distinguished  family 
of  that  name,  and  has  himself  been  associated 
from  the  beginning  with  the  highly  patriotic 
work  of  establishing,  maintaining  and  adorning 
the  Guilford  Battle  Grounds. 
The  Moreheads  are  of  Scotch  descent,  Charles  Morehead,  their 
ancestor,  coming  from  Scotland  to  Virginia  in  1620,  but  earlier 
than  the  Revolution  they  had  located  in  North  Carolina.  Captain 
James  Morehead  was,  on  March  23,  1779.  appointed  a  lieutenant 
in  Captain  Lytle's  company  of  the  Tenth  North  Carolina  Con- 
tinentals, and  served  with  General  Sumner  at  the  battle  of  Stono, 
and  was  also  in  the  battle  of  Elizabethtown  in  1781.  Joseph 
Morehead,  father  of  Captain  James  Morehead,  married  Elizabeth 
Turner,  a  daughter  of  the  heroine,  Mrs.  Kerenhappuch  Turner, 
who  rode  on  horseback  from  her  home  in  Maryland  to  nurse  one 
of  her  sons  who  was  desperately  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Guilford 
Court  House ;  while  another  daughter,  Mary  Turner,  married  his 
brother,  Charles  Morehead,  from  their  union  springing  Governor 
Charles  and  Governor  James  T.  Morehead  of  Kentucky,  who,  in 
addition,  were  United  States  senators.  From  Joseph  Morehead's 
marriage  sprang  five  brothers,  James,  Charles,  Joseph,  Turner 
and  John.  John  married  Miss  Obedience  Motley  of  Virginia,  and 
from  this  union  sprang  John  Motley  Morehead,  who  became  one 


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JOSEPH  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  279 

of  the  most  useful  governors  of  the  State,  a  man  of  great  power 
and  capacity,  an  ardent  advocate  of  internal  improvements,  who 
made  the  construction  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  possible 
by  securing  the  private  subscription  of  $1,000,000  required  by  the 
act  incorporating  that  company,  and  who  largely  promoted  the 
building  of  the  Atlantic  and  North  Carolina  Railroad. 

The  other  brother,  Hon.  James  Turner  Morehead,  one  of  the 
greatest  lawyers  of  his  day,  represented  Guilford  County  in  the 
legislature,  and  also  was  a  representative  in  Congress  in  the 
stormy  times  of  185 1  to  1853,  ^^^  he  preferred  his  professional 
career  to  political  life.  He  married  Miss  Mary  Leas  Lindsay,  and 
his  surviving  sons  are  Colonel  James  T.  Morehead,  a  distinguished 
lawyer  of  Greensboro,  and  Major  Joseph  M.  Morehead,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  who  was  bom  in  Greensboro  on  the  9th  of 
July,  1840. 

While  in  his  sixth  year  Major  Morehead  had  the  misfortune 
to  lose  his  mother,  and  being  rather  feeble  arid  not  of  a  robust 
constitution,  while  fond  of  hunting,  his  tastes  led  him  to  books. 
He  was  taught  at  the  celebrated  school  of  Dr.  Alexander  Wilson, 
in  Alamance  County,  and  there  was  prepared  for  college ;  but 
after  entering  the  Universify,  he  was  forced  by  ill  Jjealth,  in  1858, 
to  abandon  his  studies  without  graduating.  Later,  however, 
having  a  disposition  to  follow  the  professional  career  of  his  father, 
he  attended  the  law  school  of  Chief  Justice  Pearson  of  Richmond 
Hill,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

The  war  coming  on,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Guilford 
Grays,  and  was  soon  appointed  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Second 
North  Carolina  State  troops,  but  because  of  ill  health  he  was  dis- 
charged by  the  surgeons,  and  had  to  abandon  the  service.  He 
began  active  life  in  1865  at  Greensboro,  uniting  the  business  of 
farming  with  his  professional  work. 

Fond  of  country  life  with  its  pastimes,  to  which  he  was  ac- 
customed from  youth,  and  familiar  with  the  woods  and  fields  of 
his  vicinity.  Major  Morehead  has  naturally  taken  a  great  interest 
in  his  farming  operations,  and  he  devotes  much  of  his  attention 
to  that  work.    But  outside  of  his  profession  and  business  interests 


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28o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

he  is  particularly  noted  for  his  endeavors  to  establish  and  maintain 
the  Guilford  Battle  Grounds.  In  this  work  of  high  patriotism  he 
has  been  tireless  since  the  inception  of  the  purpose,  and  not  only 
liberal  in  his  pecuniary  donations,  and  freely  giving  his  time,  but 
also  manifesting  his  interest  by  personal  labor  and  supervision 
of  the  operations  on  the  grounds.  Originally  a  mere  dedication  of 
the  field  on  which  the  battle  was  fought  to  public  uses,  through 
the  services  of  Judge  David  Schenck,  Major  Morehead  and  their 
associates,  the  undertaking  has  been  enlarged  until  the  park  has 
become  a  mausoleum  redolent  with  patriotic  memories.  These 
monuments  have  been  erected  in  commemoration  of  great  events 
in  the  revolutionary  history  of  the  State,  and  to  preserve  to  pos- 
terity the  story  of  lofty  patriotism  exemplified  in  the  lives  and 
services  of  fallen  sons.  For  many  years  Major  Morehead  has  been 
the  acting  president  of  the  association,  and  while  he  has  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  other  monuments  that  adorn  the  grounds, 
to  him  chiefly  is  to  be  ascribed  the  credit  of  erecting  the  beautiful 
one  unveiled  on  July  4,  1902,  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Turner,  the  first 
ever  erected  in  America  to  commemorate  a  heroine  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

Through  his  active  and  long-continued  exertions,  appropriations 
have  been  made  by  Congress  for  the  erection  of  monuments  to 
General  Davidson  and  General  Nash,  who  fell  on  the  field  of  battle 
gallantly  performing  their  duties ;  and  also  as  a  result  of  his  per- 
sistent endeavors  a  monument  to  General  Greene  is  to  be  erected 
on  the  field  where,  by  crippling  Comwallis's  army,  that  hero  of 
the  Revolution  rendered  niost  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of  his 
country's  independence.  Indeed,  Major  Morehead's  unremitting 
exertions  in  connection  with  this  battlefield  have  been  so  zealous, 
and  are  so  highly  esteemed  by  his  community  and  the  public,  that 
his  presence  at  the  recurring  ceremonies  on  the  grounds  always 
evokes  popular  applause  in  grateful  recognition  of  his  unceasing 
labor  and  public  spirit ;  and  when,  in  the  centuries  to  come,  patri- 
otic Carolinians  will  repair  to  the  sacred  shrine  of  the  Guilford 
Battle  Ground,  they  will  recall  with  gratitude  this  great  work 
of  Judge  Schenck,  Major  Morehead  and  their  co-laborers,  who 


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JOSEPH  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD  281 

conceived  the  plan  and  have  so  admirably  executed  the  design  of 
setting  apart  the  old  field  of  battle  and  converting  it  into  a  park 
adorned  by  monuments  telling  posterity  of  the  services  of  their 
Revolutionary  fathers. 

Nor  have  Major  Morehead's  labors  in  the  field  of  patriotism 
been  limited  to  his  services  in  connection  with  the  battlegrounds. 
He  has  been  an  investigator  into  the  obscure  annals  of  State 
history,  and  has  made  valuable  contributions  to  historical  liter- 
ature. Chief  among  his  publications  is  his  interesting  and  ad- 
mirable pamphlet  on  "J^^^^^s  Hunter,  General  of  the  Regulators," 
which  does  full  justice  to  the  men  engaged  in  the  Regulation  move- 
ment, and  presents  that  subject  in  an  aspect  that  appeals  to  the 
sympathies  of  patriotic  people. 

Major  Morehead  has  ever  been  a  zealous  Democrat,  and  has 
taken  an  active  interest  in  political  matters,  though  he  has  never 
sought  political  preferment,  but  has  contented  himself  with  wield- 
ing the  influence  that  is  naturally  accorded  in  public  affairs  to  a 
prominent  citizen  who  is  controlled  by  unselfish  motives  and  lofty 
purposes. 

In  his  religious  affiliations  Major  Morehead  is  a  consistent 
Presbyterian,  and  his  walk  in  life  has  won  for  him  the  high  regard 
and  esteem  of  his  associates.  A  cultured  gentleman,  his  reading 
has  been  varied,  embracing  a  large  variety  of  subjects,  but  outside 
of  his  professional  studies  he  has  devoted  himself  chiefly  to  works 
of  theology,  agriculture  and  history,  while  the  pleasures  of  his 
home  circle  and  his  domestic  tastes  usually  engage  his  leisure 
hours.  The  kejmote  of  his  life  is  well  illustrated  by  the  words  of 
advice  he  would  offer  to  the  young  with  a  view  of  promoting  high 
ideals:  "Fear  God,  maintain  self-respect  at  every  hazard.  Never 
be  idle.  Have  a  purpose  and  pursue  it  energetically,  and  never 
depart  from  it." 

On  the  8th  day  of  November,  ,1883,  Major  Morehead  was 
happily  married  to  Miss  Mary  Christian  Jones,  who  has  borne  hun 
four  children,  of  whom,  however,  only  one  survives. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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J 


MARK   MORGAN 


I^ARK  MORGAN,  manufacturer,  banker,  legis- 
lator and  agriculturist,  of  Scotland  County,  was 
born  near  Lillington,  in  Harnett  County,  North 
Carolina,  on  the  22d  day  of  October,  1837. 

Through  the  long  sickness  of  his  father, 
forced  into  the  factory  to  work  at  the  age  of 
seven,  bereft  of  his  father  at  ten,  the  youngest  of  eight  children 
of  a  widowed  mother ;  to-day  the  president  of  three  cotton  mills, 
vice-president  of  a  bank  and  interested  in  various  business  enter- 
prises, to  the  success  of  which  his  mind  and  means  have  contrib- 
uted ;  denied  for  himself  the  privileges  of  school,  to-day  a  patron 
of  learning,  Mark  Morgan  presents  an  illustration  of  that  energy 
and  purpose  that  does  things  in  spite  of  circumstances,  and  shows 
that  the  same  spirit  that  made  North  Carolina  soldiers  glorious 
in  war  leads  to  merited  success  in  the  paths  of  peace.  The  native 
sons  of  North  Carolina  have  been  among  the  chief  workers  in  her 
industries,  and  among  them  stands  the  name  of  Mark  Morgan, 
written  high  among  the  rest. 

On  his  father's  side  Mr.  Morgan  is  descended  from  Welsh  and 
Scotch  ancestors,  while  his  maternal  line  is  of  English  descent. 
His  grandfather,  John  Morgan,  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania 
after  the  Revolutionary  War  and  settled  on  the  Cape  Fear  River, 
his  relative,  Mark  Morgan,  having  settled  in  Orange  County  on 
a  creek  bearing  his  name  near  the  present  village  of  Chapel  Hill, 


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MARK  MORGAN  283 


part  of  the  site  of  the  State  University  being  donated  by  a  Mr. 
Morgan  of  this  family.  The  mother  of  John  Morgan  was  a 
Miss  Reese,  a  member  of  a  prominent  Welsh  family  which  located 
in  Mecklenburg  County.  All  of  his  sons  emigrated  to  Alabama 
and  other  States  in  the  Southwest  with  the  exception  of  Reese 
Morgan,  who  remained  in  his  native  county  until  about  the  year 
1845,  when  he  was  employed  by  the  Rockfish  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, and  moved  his  family  to  the  village  of  Rockfish,  now  Hope 
Mills,  in  Cumberland  County,  where  that  company  operated  one 
of  the  first  cotton  mills  established  in  the  South. 

Here  the  father  was  soon  stricken  with  disease  that  lingered 
for  a  long  time,  resulting  in  his  death  in  1847,  leaving  a  wife  and 
eight  children.  The  heavy  demands  of  sickness  in  the  family 
forced  even  the  youngest  boy  into  the  factory  at  the  age  of  seven, 
where  he  worked  as  bobbin  boy  for  twelve  and  more  hours  per 
day  for  fifty  cents  per  week  at  first,  a  princely  wage  of  eight  and 
one-third  cents  per  day!  Gradually  working  hii^  way  up  from 
one  line  to  another,  he  mastered  every  detail  of  the  work  of  the 
cotton  mill  of  that  date,  besides  learning  the  mechanical  operation 
of  the  business,  being  able  to  make  all  the  repairs  needed  to  be 
done  outside  of  the  factory,  often  forging  for  himself  such  tools 
as  upon  sudden  emergency  he  found  use  for.  .  Denied  opportunity 
to  attend  school,  having  attended  in  all  less  than  eight  weeks, 
when  he  arrived  at  his  majority  he  was  not  only  recognized  as 
one  of  the  foremost  and  most  capable  machinists  of  the  State, 
perfectly  familiar  with  every  detail  of  cotton  manufacture,  but 
had  made  such  progress  in  his  studies  by  the  light  of  a  pine-knot 
fire,  after  the  day's  work  was  over,  that  he  possessed  a  good 
business  training,  had  a  fair  English  education,  and  was  a  ready 
and  accurate  calculator,  even  to  the  intricacies  of  the  science  of 
mechanics  as  applied  to  his  business. 

At  the  call  to  arms  for  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Morgan  was  an  officer 
of  the  Rockfish  Liberty  Guards,  being  first  lieutenant.  He  with 
his  company  tendered  his  services  to  the  State  for  the  war,  but 
Governor  Ellis  refused  to  send  the  company  to  the  front,  because 
the  men  were  for  the  most  part  employed  in  the  manufacture  of 


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284  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cotton,  holding  that  they  could  serve  better  by  giving  their  efforts 
to  the  production  of  thread  and  cloth.  The  fact  that  North  Caro- 
lina soldiers  were  better  clothed  than  those  of  any  other  Con- 
federate State  was  due  in  no  small  part  to  such  foresight  as  was 
exercised  in  this  act  of  the  governor.  The  company  was  enlisted, 
however,  and  placed  under  the  command  of  Major  Childs,  with 
headquarters  at  Fayetteville,  being  directed  to  proceed  with  their 
daily  work  as  far  as  possible,  but  subject  to  be  called  out  for^ 
military  duty  at  any  time. 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the  company  was  ordered  into  active 
service  several  times.  It  participated  in  the  capture  of  the  arsenal 
at  Fayetteville  in  April,  1861,  closing  its  service  in  1865,  being 
on  the  8th  and  9th  of  March,  1865,  under  orders,  engaged  in 
destroying  cotton  and  other  stores,  and  commanded  to  protect 
and  finally  bum  bridges  in  front  of  Sherman's  army,  and  fall  back 
to  Fayetteville  in  face  of  the  advancing  enemy.  After  a  very 
hard  day  and  night's  work  on  the  8th  and  9th  of  March,  1865, 
the  company,  having  no  commissary,  dispersed  for  food  and  a 
little  rest  early  on  the  morning  of  the  9th,  being  ordered  to  report 
for  further  duty  a  few  hours  later.  The  physical  endurance  of 
the  men  had  been  tested  to  the  utmost,  the  work  being  most 
laborious.  So  nearly  prostrated  was  the  whole  company  that  the 
captain  was  met  at  the  appointed  time  for  assembling  by  only  four 
of  his  men,  being  Mark  Morgan,  first  lieutenant ;  his  two  brothers, 
John  Morgan,  sergeant,  and  Matthew  Morgan,  private,  together 
with  Henry  Hall,  lieutenant.  The  Federal  army  had  invested 
the  village,  and  upon  assembling,  these  five  were  discovered  and 
were  set  upon  by  a  superior  force.  The  captain  escaped  by  gallop- 
ing his  horse  away  with  several  of  the  enemy  in  hot  pursuit  shoot- 
ing at  him.  The  others  dispersed,  each  for  himself  attempting 
to  evade  the  Federal  soldiery  through  the  day,  and,  by  superior 
knowledge  of  his  surroundings,  to  reach  the  Confederate  forces 
under  cover  of  darkness  the  following  night.  A  sick  wife  and 
infant  son,  his  first  bom  and  only  son,  at  home,  drew  Mr.  Morgan 
there  to  say  what  might  be  forever  "good-by,"  and  while  at  his 
home  on  March  9th  he  was  discovered  and  captured  by  Sherman's 


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MARK  MORGAN  285 


forces,  taken  before  the  officer  in  command  and  paroled.  His  home 
was  invaded  by  his  captors,  and  every  piece  and  parcel  of  his 
household  property  and  other  effects  there  was  broken  up,  torn, 
shattered  and  utterly  ruined  or  destroyed  save  the  bed  on  which 
his  sick  wife  lay  and  the  clothing  on  his  own  person. 

The  Federal  army  passed  on,  leaving  Mr.  Morgan  to  attend 
to  his  distressed  family.  He  found  himself  and  family  with  no 
morsel  of  food  and  none  to  be  had  in  the  village  or  community, 
and  he  with  no  property  whatever  save  $50  in  gold  which  he  had 
saved  with  some  Confederate  currency.  His  first  food  was  pro- 
cured by  his  walking  seven  miles  to  Fayetteville,  where  he  got 
nineteen  pounds  of  com  meal  (all  he  could  get  at  any  price)  for 
$19  in  Confederate  currency.  Hastening  home  with  this  for  his 
sick  wife,  he  found  Rev.  Angelo  Benton,  learning  of  their  dis- 
tressed circumstances,  had  given  his  wife  some  bacon,  which  Mr. 
Benton  saved  by  securing  in  some  way  a  g^ard  for  hfs  own  home. 
With  this  food  life  was  sustained. 

The  Southern  soldier  returned  to  his  office,  store,  farm  or  shop, 
as  was  his  avocation,  to  find  varying  conditions  of  destruction  and 
decay,  there  to  fight  a  battle  scarce  less  heroic  than  had  been  his 
clash  of  arms.  To  Mr.  Morgan  the  factory  where  he  wrought 
was  office,  store,  farm  and  shop ;  it  was  now  marked  by  a  mass  of 
ruins,  tangled  and  twisted  at  the  touch  of  the  invader's  torch, 
lighting  the  heavens  as  it  wafted  away  in  smoke,  the  end  of  every- 
thing material  on  which  he  had  builded  his  hopes. 

Life  had  to  be  begun  over.  But  in  the  providence  of  God  a 
little  com  mill  in  the  neighborhood  had  saved  a  small,  dilapidated 
factory,  Beaver  Creek  Factory  by  name,  the  two  being  so  near 
together  that  the  vandal  soldier  could  not  bum  the  factory  with- 
out destroying  the  mill,  and  he  needed  the  mill  to  grind  his  meal. 
When  the  mill  was  no  longer  needed,  the  factory  seemed  to  be 
forgotten,  and  in  some  strange  way  it  stood  out  among  the 
devastation  around,  saved.  Here  Mr.  Morgan  found  employment 
at  once,  almost,  and  for  a  year  he  repaired,  refitted  and  rebuilt 
the  machines  in  this  factory,  and  even  with  his  own  hands  built 
new  machines  for  it. 


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286  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  1867  Colonel  Thomas  M.  Holt  of  Haw  River  tendered 
Mr.  Morgan  the  superintendency  of  Granite  Mills  on  Haw  River, 
which  position  Mr.  Morgan  held  for  several  years.  While  here 
he  invented  the  first  successful  appliance  of  its  kind  and  manu- 
factured in  a  blacksmith  shop,  with  only  the  common  outfit  of 
such  shops,  a  governor  for  heavy  water-wheel  gates  to  turbines, 
which  governor  gave  perfect  satisfaction,  a  thing  not  theretofore 
accomplished.  One  of  exactly  the  same  pattern  is  at  this  day 
in  service  at  Richmond  Cotton  Mill  in  Scotland  County.  The 
capacity  of  this  factory,  Granite  Mills,  was  greatly  enlarged  and 
the  production  or  per  cent,  of  manufactured  product  from  raw 
material,  was  greatly  increased  while  Mr.  Morgan  managed  it; 
but  the  work  was  very  heavy,  and  Mr.  Morgan's  health  failed  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  felt  compelled  to  give  it  up  and  rest,  and 
so  tendered  his  resignation. 

After  a  period  of  rest  and  recuperation,  he  beg^an  to  look  about 
for  a  place  of  healthfulness  and  remunerative  work  not  too  heavy 
for  his  then  condition.  Investigating  what  was  then  the  Laurel 
Hill  Mill,  in  what  was  Richmond  County  (now  Scotland),  with 
an  unfailing  water-power,  located  in  a  most  healthful  section  of 
the  long-leaf  pine  and  in  the  edge  of  the  sand  region  of  North 
Carolina,  since  become  renowned  for  healthfulness,  he  found  the 
old  mill  had  stopped  its  wheels  because  its  machinery  was  in 
such  poor  condition  that  its  products  were  no  longer  salable. 
Observing  the  never-failing  water-power,  and  relying  upon  his 
capacity  as  machinist,  his  fine  judgment  told  him  that  here  was 
an  opportunity.  He  leased  the  property  from  Colonel  Charles 
Malloy,  the  sole  owner,  in  1872,  and  began  repairing  the  four  hun- 
dred spindles  he  found  here,  discarding  the  six  looms  that  com- 
prised the  weaving  department.  To  avoid  the  odium  of  the 
inferior  goods  so  recently  offered  under  the  name  of  "Laurel  Hill 
Cotton  Mill,"  the  newly-made  goods  were  offered  under  the  name 
of  the  "Beaver  Dam  Cotton  Mill."  Such  was  the  quality  that, 
though  his  name  was  soon  superseded,  occasionally  now  there 
come  inquiries  for  the  old  Beaver  Dam  Cotton  Mill  thread. 

Notwithstanding  the  high  standard  to  which  Mr.  Morgan  soon 


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MARK  MORGAN  287 


raised  this  mill,  he  saw  that  success  such  as  he  aimed  at  was  not 
to  be  attained  without  thoroughly  modem  machinery.  Colonel 
Malloy  saw  that  in  Mr.  Morgan  he  had  found  one  whose  capacity 
and  practical  experience  insured  success,  and  to  make  it  more 
certain  he  sold  Mr.  Morgan  an  interest  in  the  factory,  taking  him 
into  partnership  under  the  firm  name  of  Malloy  &  Morgan.  New 
machinery  replaced  the  old,  and  a  new  era  opened  for  the  mill, 
the  name  of  which  was  now  changed  to  its  present  corporate  name, 
Richmond  G>tton  Mill,  though  it  was  not  incorporated  until  after 
Colonel  Malloy 's  death.  The  name  was  taken  from  the  county — 
Richmond — in  which  the  property  was  situated,  though  now  it  is 
Scotland  County.  During  the  years  the  mill  was  operated  by 
Malloy  &  Morgan,  partners,  many  were  the  difficulties  encoun- 
tered. The  surrounding  country  is  very  productive  in  cotton, 
which  was  bringing  a  high  price  at  that  time.  The  work  in  cotton 
fields  was  more  attractive  to  most  laboring  people,  who  were  hard 
to  get  into  cotton  mills.  Mr.  Morgan  walked  through  the  sur- 
rounding country  personally  soliciting  the  services  of  such  laborers 
as  were  properly  open  to  such  proposals,  and  by  his  personal 
contact  with  prospective  laborers  protecting  the  character  of  the 
mill  settlement  by  not  taking  people  whose  appearance  seemed 
to  indicate  criminal  tendencies.  In  truth,  while  such  personal 
solicitation  has  long  since  passed,  he  has  always  endeavored  to 
protect  the  character  of  his  people  by  excluding  the  vicious,  so 
much  so  that  it  is  a  matter  of  pride  often  referred  to  by  his  more 
experienced  hands  that  they  were  with  Mr.  Morgan  so  long.  Nor 
is  this  confined  to  his  mill  operatives,  but  applies  to  his  farm 
laborers  and  tenants  as  well.  Often  they  state  that  they  intend 
to  remain  with  Mr.  Morgan  so  long  as  they  live,  if  he  will  keep 
them  so  long. 

The  product  of  the  factory  was  sold  in  these  days  in  five-pound 
hanks  or  bunches  to  small  merchants  and  even  to  the  consumers 
in  some  cases,  making  the  problem  of  disposing  of  the  thread  quite 
a  difficult  one.  So  his  traveling  through  the  surrounding  com- 
munity took  the  form  of  seeker  after  laborers  and  also  customers. 
On  one  occasion,  approaching  on  foot  a  substantial  farmhouse 


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288  NORTH  CAROLINA 

near  night,  he  sought  lodging  for  the  night,  which  was  refused, 
contrary  to  the  usual  Scotch  custom.  As  Mr.  Morgan  turned 
to  go  the  good  housewife  asked  her  husband  who  was  the  traveler 
and  his  business.  To  her  great  surprise  she  heard  the  name  of 
one  of  her  intimate  friends  of  childhood  and  youth,  and  it  dawned 
upon  her  that  he  had  been  turned  from  her  door.  Imagine  the 
pleasure  and  surprise  when  he  was  recalled  to  stand  face  to  face 
with  his  friend  of  other  days,  one  with  whom  he  had  often  sung 
from  the  same  book  in  the  village  choir,  for  they  were  both 
musical  in  youth.  It  is  needless  to  say  he  received  a  royal  Scotch 
welcome. 

Malloy  &  Morgan  lost  heavily  by  a  failure  of  a  business  house 
with  which  they  did  a  large  business,  but  this  misfortune,  instead 
of  depressing  the  spirits  of  Mr.  Morgan,  seemed  to  renew  his 
purpose  to  succeed.  In  a  few  years  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  the  mill  out  of  debt  and  a  surplus  sufficient  for  the  com- 
fortable conduct  of  its  operations  without  embarrassment  at  any 
time. 

So  well  did  this  enterprise  pay,  and  so  hopeful  was  the  outlook, 
in  1887  Mr.  Morgan's  only  son  was  admitted  into  the  business, 
and  Ida  Yam  Mill  built.  This  mill  was  named  in  honor  of  a  little 
deceased  daughter  of  Mr.  Morgan. 

Cdonel  Malloy  having  died,  Mr.  Morgan  joined  with  his  son, 
M.  Lauder  Morgan,  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  W.  H.  Morrison,  and 
Messrs.  J.  H.  Mcllwinen  and  Daniel  Blue,  in  1892,  and  built 
another  cotton  mill,  the  Springfield  Cotton  Mill.  About  this  time 
each  of  the  cotton  mills  was  incorporated  under  its  individual 
name,  each  being  a  separate  organization.  Mr.  Morgan  is  presi- 
dent of  each,  Mr.  W.  H.  Morrison  is  treasurer  of  each.  The 
three  mills  manufacture  yarns  exclusively. 

In  whatever  engaged,  it  has  been  the  ambition  of  Mr.  Morgan 
to  reach  the  foremost  position  possible  based  upon  merit.  Long 
experience  in  cotton  milling  caused  him  to  note  all  improvements 
in  machinery,  and  his  progressive  spirit  led  him  to  adopt  them 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  so  that  the  products  of  his  mills  have  erer 
ranked  among  the  highest  grades  and  realized  the  highest  prices. 


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MARK  MORGAN  289 


From  the  time  of  his  first  connection  with  the  Laurel  Hill  Mill 
to  the  present,  not  once  has  he  failed  to  realize  a  comfortable  divi- 
dend from  his  investments.  Succeeding  so  admirably  in  these 
enterprises,  Mr.  Morgan  continued  to  enlarge  his  manufacturing 
interests,  and  early  became  identified  with  the  cotton  mill  at 
McColl,  South  Carolina,  and  contributed  to  the  erection  of  the 
Cotton  Seed  Oil  Mill  at  Gibson,  North  Carolina.  Needing  addi- 
tional facilities  for  handling  his  large  financial  interests,  he  joined 
in  the  establishment  of  a  bank,  and  became  one  of  the  stockholders 
and  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Laurinburg,  North 
Carolina,  and  is  vice-president  of  the  Scotland  County  Savings 
Bank.  His  enterprising  spirit  has  led  him  into  other  operations 
which  have  been  helpful  to  his  community.  He  is  the  largest 
stockholder  and  is  president  of  the  Red  Springs  Cotton  Seed  Oil 
and  Fertilizer  Company.  He  has  also  engaged  largely  in  agri- 
culture, and  has  achieved  success  in  this  as  well  as  in  his  other 
pursuits.  But  for  his  greater  reputation  as  a  manufacturer  he 
would  be  widely  and  favorably  known  as  a  prominent  farmer  of 
the  State.  The  same  thoroughness  that  he  has  displayed  in  his 
favorite  vocation  has  marked  his  operations  in  every  other  field 
of  endeavor.  His  eminently  practical  mind,  correct  in  judgment 
and  unflagging  in  attention  to  details,  united  to  a  superior  intelli- 
gence, makes  him  a  master  in  every  line  of  work  that  he  takes 
up,  while  the  example  of  his  success  and  the  inspiring  result  of 
his  business  operations  have  been  of  great  and  permanent  benefit 
in  developing  confidence  in  these  industrial  enterprises  and  pro- 
moting the  establishment  of  more  factories  in  his  section  of  the 
State. 

A  factor  that  enters  largely  into  his  success  is  his  genial  humor, 
droll  and  quiet,  often  hitting  off  a  subject  with  an  incident  aptly 
illustrating  the  case,  provoking  laughter  and  good  humor  without 
in  any  degree  letting  down  the  high  tone  of  his  conversation.  In 
his  dealings  with  his  employees  the  kindliness  of  his  nature  is 
ever  assertive.  Those  of  his  employees  whose  lives  and  characters 
are  worthy  look  upon  him  as  a  true  friend  and  benefactor  after 
they  get  to  know  him  and  thoroughly  understand  him. 


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290  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Having  to  struggle  for  his  own  education,  practically  without 
instruction  save  such  as  his  sainted  mother  gave  him  after  their 
day's  cares  had  drawn  upon  their  strength,  tired,  with  no  trained 
teacher  to  guide  him,  he  learned  well  the  value  of  an  education, 
and  to  this  day  deplores  the  fact  that  the  door  of  the  school-room 
was  closed  to  him  almost  before  it  had  opened.  This  feeling  of 
distrust  as  to  his  own  acquirements  attained  under  such  difficulties 
had  helped  to  give  his  always  modest  nature  a  diffidence  which  has 
made  him  slow  to  assert  himself  in  public,  and  has  often  deprived 
those  who  would  hear  him  gladly  of  his  fine  insight  into  matters 
when  in  deliberative  assemblies.  He  has  always  had  a  lively  inter- 
est in  schools,  and  has  aided  annually  in  giving  educational  ad- 
vantages to  his  community.  His  children  he  educated  liberally, 
and  is  now  educating  grandchildren.  It  is  incidentally  a  matter 
of  pride  that  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Margaret  Morgan  Blue,  was  the 
first  graduate  of  Red  Springs  Seminary  at  Red  Springs,  North 
Carolina. 

Hardly  ever  a  year  passes  that  his  means  do  not  open  the  door 
for  some  poor  youth  to  enter  school  of  some  g^ade,  having  assisted 
to  every  grade  of  instruction,  from  the  most  elementary  to  the 
finishing  schools  of  Europe.  True,  they  promise  to  pay  back,  and 
generally  do,  but  that  some  do  not  does  not  keep  him  from  the 
enjoyment  of  having  helped  some  who  are  most  worthy  indeed. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  Mr.  Morgan  should  be  placed  upon 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Red  Springs  Seminary,  a  school  under 
the  care  of  the  Fayetteville  Presbytery,  while  he  is  an  Episcopalian. 
His  services  on  that  board,  as  usual,  have  proven  most  valuable. 
The  president  of  that  institution,  now  the  Southern  Presb)rterian 
College  and  Conservatory  of  Music,  says  in  a  letter  to  the  writer : 
"Mr.  Morgan  has  been  of  great  service  to  us  in  our  work.  He 
has  not  talked  much,  but  his  counsel  has  been  not  only  safe,  but 
progressive.  I  believe  I  have  failed  but  once  to  take  his  advice, 
and  then  I  found  I  made  a  mistake.'' 

In  1904  educational  circles  were  surprised  to  learn  that  he,  an 
Episcopalian,  had  given  to  this  institution  the  money  with  which 
to  erect  a  much-needed  building,  costing  $7000.    This  is  recog- 


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MARK  MORGAN  291 


nized  as  the  largest  single  gift  by  any  native  resident  of  the  State 
to  female  education.  It  was  given  in  a  manner  characteristic  of  the 
donor,  without  any  announcement  on  his  part  beforehand  or  wait- 
ing for  a  theatrical  moment  to  bestow  the  gift.  He  had  considered 
the  situation,  and  as  he  stated  to  one  some  time  later  who  spoke 
of  the  unusual  gift  by  one  of  one  denomination  to  a  school  imder 
the  care  of  another  denomination :  "They  told  me  they  gave  train- 
ing at  this  institution  at  actual  cost,  the  equipment  being  given 
free,  the  tuition  and  charges  simply  paying  the  necessary  bills  for 
teaching  and  expenses  of  maintaining  the  students.  I  thought 
I  would  help  them  to  larger  accommodations  and  greater  useful- 
ness, and  so  I  gave  them  the  money  for  the  building." 

The  building  is  known  as  "Morgan  Hall."  On  May  18,  1904, 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Masons  laid  the  cornerstone,  on  which  is  the 
following  inscription :  "Morgan  Hall.  Erected  by  Mark  Morgan 
in  Honor  of  his  Wife,  Margaret,  and  as  a  Gift  to  the  Women 
of  North  Carolina." 

Let  no  one  consider  that  this  gift  indicates  lack  of  fine  church 
pride  in  Mr.  Morgan,  for  such  is  not  the  case.  He  is  broad  enough 
to  look  beyond  and  above  all  church  lines,  but  is  well  known  to 
those  about  him  to  be  faithful  and  true  to  his  own  church,  the 
church  of  his  fathers. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  never  held  public  office  until  the  present.  He 
is  the  honored  representative  of  Scotland  County  in  the  General 
Assembly  of  North  Carolina,  being  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Manufacture  and  Labor,  besides  holding  other  important 
assignments.  He  had  cast  against  him  only  sixty-five  votes  out 
of  a  total  population  of  nearly  20,000.  Mr.  Morgan  is  a  Master 
Mason,  affiliating  with  Laurinburg  Lodge,  No.  305. 

Mr.  Morgan's  home  life  has  been  that  of  beautiful  devotion  to 
his  wife  and  children.  He  was  most  happily  married  on  Sep- 
tember 3,  1863,  to  Miss  Margaret  L.  Cameron,  daughter  of  Mr. 
Ang^s  Cameron  of  Johnsonville,  Harnett  County,  North  Carolina. 
Between  them  there  has  been  a  blending  of  taste,  a  molding  of 
soul,  that  has  made  the  twain  one  in  hope,  heart,  aspiration,  pur- 
pose; the  one  strengthening  the  other,  sharing  and  lightening 


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292  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  burdens,  bowing  together  over  the  bier  of  the  little  daughter, 
able  to  say,  **It  is  well  with  the  child;"  later  staggering  under 
the  sorrow  of  loss  of  first  bom,  their  only  son,  M.  Lauder,  but 
able  to  look  up  into  the  great  beyond  and  behold  his  glorified 
spirit  beckoning  them  to  their  eternal  home. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgan  were  bom  four  children :  M.  Lauder, 
who  married  Miss  Eugenia  Morrison.  She  died  in  February, 
1898,  to  be  followed  by  him  May  18,  1899,  leaving  five  children — 
Bessie,  Marcus  Morrison,  Edwin,  William  Lauder  and  Eugene 
Arrowood. 

A  daughter.  Miss  Lena,  married  Mr.  William  H.  Morrison 
(brother  of  Mrs.  M.  L.  Morgan).  Mr.  and  Mrs. "Morrison  have 
two  children  living — ^Esther  McLean  and  Genia. 

A  daughter,  Ida,  died  in  infancy. 

The  youngest  child,  a  daughter,  Miss  Margaret,  married 
Dr.  K.  A.  Blue,  a  prominent  physician  of  Laurinburg,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  they  have  one  son,  Mark  Morgan  Blue. 

It  would  be  improper  to  close  this  sketch  without  sa3ring  of 
the  lamented  M.  Lauder  Morgan  that  truly  did  he  wear  the  pure 
flower  of  a  blameless  life,  strong  of  purpose,  steady  and  true  in 
every  relation,  given  to  thought,  but  of  little  speaking,  gentle  and 
tender  and  pure  as  a  woman,  diligent,  thoughtful  of  his  parents, 
considerate  above  everything  of  his  mother  from  boyhood  up,  in 
whom  he  confided  always,  he  presented  a  true  type  of  the  strong 
man,  successful  in  every  undertaking,  whose  manliness  was  only 
equaled  by  his  gentleness.  His  death  fell  as  a  blow,  sudden, 
almost,  and  unexpected  up  to  a  few  hours  before  it,  laying  upon 
his  parents  a  sorrow  almost  above  that  which  they  were  able  to 
bear. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  this  year  built  and  given  in  fee  simple  to  the 
diocese  of  North  Carolina  an  Episcopal  Church  in  the  town  of 
Laurinburg,  in  memory  of  his  son,  M.  L.  Morgan,  his  son's  wife, 
Mrs.  Eugenia  Morgan,  and  his  daughter,  Ida  Malloy  Morgan, 
deceased. 

Maxcy  L.  John, 


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MAURICE   MOORE 


[bout  the  year  1685  James  Moore,  a  grandson 
of  Roger  Moore,  who  was  one  of  the  leaders  in 
the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1641,  removed  from  the 
Barbadoes  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  married 
Elizabeth,  the  only  child  of  Sir  John  Yeamans, 
the  first  governor  of  Carolina,  and  who  made 
the  settlement  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  a  bold,  adventurous 
man,  of  high  spirit,  unflinching  courage  and  strong  mind.  He 
himself  became  governor  of  South  Carolina  in  1700,  and  while 
governor,  conducted  an  expedition  against  Florida  and  against 
the  Appalachian  Indians,  who,  from  their  connection  with  the 
Spaniards,  had  become  troublesome.  He  marched  into  their  terri- 
tory, carrying  fire  and  sword,  and  struck  terror  among  those  tribes. 
All  the  towns  between  the  Altamaha  and  the  Savannah  he  laid 
in  ashes,  capturing  many  savages,  and  obliging  those  Indians  to 
submit  to  the  English  Government.  He  received  the  thanks  of 
the  Proprietors  for  his  patriotism  and  courage,  and  his  success 
gained  great  reputation  for  him  and  the  province.  Indeed,  he  was 
a  bold  fighter,  capable,  efficient  and  thorough.  Already  possessed 
of  large  wealth,  the  captured  Indians  whom  he  enslaved  made 
him  perhaps  the  wealthiest  of  South  Carolinians.  He  left  a  large 
family,  and  his  descendants,  both  in  North  and  South  Carolina, 
have  ever  been  among  the  most  prominent  and  forceful  citizens 
of  those  States,  among  them  being  Washington  Alston,  George 
Davis  and  Judge  Alfred  Moore. 


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294  NORTH  CAROLINA 

When  the  Indian  War  broke  out  in  North  Carolina,  in  Septem- 
ber, 171 1,  aid  being  asked  of  South  Carolina,  Colonel  Barnwell 
was  sent  with  some  1500  friendly  Indians  to  assist  the  North 
Carolinians.  Colonel  BarnweH's  route  lay  up  the  Wateree  River, 
and  he  gathered  detachments  of  Indians  from  the  tribes  in  that 
vicinity  and  the  Catawbas  and  Waxhaws;  and  then  he  struck 
across  the  wilderness  to  the  upper  Cape  Fear,  and  finally  reached 
an  Indian  town  called  Torhunte,  about  the  site  of  Greenville.  But 
his  expedition  not  ending  the  war,  a  year  later,  on  renewed  appeal 
for  aid,  South  Carolina  sent  another  force  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  James  Moore,  the  eldest  son  of  Governor  Moore,  who 
pursued  the  same  route  as  Barnwell  until  the  Catawbas  were 
reached ;  but  from  there  he  proceeded  by  the  upper  trading  path 
through  Salisbury  and  the  Oconeechees  to  Torhunte ;  and  a  little 
later  reinforcements  were  sent  him  under  his  brother.  Major 
Maurice  Moore,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  on  reaching  the 
Catawbas  proceeded  through  the  wilderness  by  an  intermediate 
route,  also  arriving  at  Torhunte.  The  two  Moores  soon  brought 
the  Tuscaroras  to  terms,  and  after  one  of  the  greatest  Indian 
battles  of  that  period,  took  their  chief  fort  and  virtually  ended 
the  war.  Colonel  Moore  then  returned  to  South  Carolina,  where, 
in  1 7 19,  he  led  the  revolution  that  overthrew  the  rule  of  the  Pro- 
prietors, he  being  elected  governor  by  the  people  and  holding  the 
province  for  the  Crown. 

Major  Maurice  Moore  remained  in  North  Carolina.  In  171 3 
he  bought  a  lot  in  the  present  town  of  Beaufort,  in  the  deed  for 
which,  however,  he  is  described  as  "of  South  Carolina."  Shortly 
after  that  he  married  the  widow  of  Colonel  Sam  Swann,  a 
daughter  of  Major  Alexander  Lillington,  and  thus  he  became 
connected  with  Edward  Moseley,  John  Porter,  the  Swanns  and 
other  leading  citizens  of  North  Carolina. 

Hardly  had  the  Indians  been  suppressed  on  the  Pamlico  when 
the  Creeks,  Yamassees  and  Cherokees,  as  well  as  the  Catawbas 
and  other  South  Carolina  Indians,  began  a  murderous  war  on  the 
whites  of  South  Carolina,  and  that  colony  was  threatened  with 
extermination.     Its  peril  was  far  greater  than  that  of  North 


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MAURICE  MOORE  295 

Carolina  the  year  before.  In  this  emergency  North  Carolina  sent 
two  detachments  to  the  aid  of  the  southern  settkment,  one  by 
water,  the  other,  under  Major  Maurice  Moore,  by  land. 

Proceeding  from  New-Bern  along  the  coast,  Major  Moore 
reached  Sugar  Loaf,  on  the  Cape  Fear,  and  crossing  that  river, 
he  made  his  way  to  South  Carolina,  where,  being  joined  by  rein- 
forcements, he  pressed  on  to  Augusta,  on  the  Savannah.  In  the 
meantime,  by  unparalleled  exertions,  the  South  Carolinians  had 
driven  off  and  conquered  the  Yamassees  on  the  coast ;  and  Major 
Moore,  inheriting  the  boldness,  energy  and  decision  of  his  father, 
rapidly  proceeded  to  Fort  Moore,  some  seventy-five  miles  further 
up  the  Savannah,  and  from  there  crossed  Rabun  Gap  and  pene- 
trated into  the  heart  of  the  Cherokee  country,  a  part  of  his  force 
reaching  Echota,  on  the  Tennessee,  beyond  the  Smokies,  near 
where  Fort  Loudoun  was  subsequently  built.  He  reduced  that 
powerful  tribe  to  entire  submission,  and  made  a  treaty  with  them 
that  for  many  years  brought  peace  to  South  Carolina.  On  his 
return,  so  highly  were  his  services  esteemed,  that  the  South  Caro- 
lina Assembly  invited  him  to  their  floor  and  tendered  to  him  the 
thanks  of  that  province  in  person. 

During  this  expedition  Colonel  Moore  viewed  the  lands  on  the 
Cape  Fear,  where  there  had  been  an  unsuccessful  effort  at  settle- 
ment in  1663,  and  also  another  attempt  from  South  Carolina  in 
1692,  and  he  determined  to  lead  a  colony  to  the  Cape  Fear, 
although  the  Lords  Proprietors  had  forbidden  any  lands  to  be 
g^ranted  or  taken  up  within  twenty  miles  of  that  river. 

On  his  return  to  North  Carolina  Colonel  Moore  actively  par- 
ticipated in  the  public  affairs  of  that  settlement.  In  171 8,  when 
there  was  suspicion  that  Governor  Eden  and  Tobias  Knight,  the 
chief  justice,  and  John  Lovick,  the  secretary,  were  implicated  in 
the  piracies  of  the  pirate  Teach,  Moore  and  Moseley  and  Vail 
possessed  themselves  of  the  secretary's  office  and  of  the  journals 
of  the  Council  and  other  papers  relating  to  the  Government  in 
the  secretary's  office,  and  barred  the  secretary  out  until  they  had 
made  a  thorough  examination  of  the  records ;  and  for  this  Moore 
and  Moseley  were  punished  by  a  court.    They,  however,  by  their 


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296  NORTH  CAROLINA 

action,  obtained  a  force  from  Virginia  that  captured  Teach's  ship 
after  a  battle  in  which  the  pirate  himself  was  killed,  and  secured 
the  execution  of  the  pirate  crew,  and  effectually  put  an  end  to 
the  entertainment  of  pirates  in  the  waters  of  North  Carolina. 

When  Burrington  came  over  as  governor,  in  January,  1724,  he 
was  persuaded  to  ignore  the  directions  of  the  Lords  Proprietors 
forbidding  lands  to  be  granted  on  the  Cape  Fear,  and  Moore  made 
a  settlement  on  that  river,  in  which  he  was  joined  by  his  brothers, 
Roger  and  Nathaniel,  from  South  Carolina,  and  by  his  family 
connections  both  in  South  Carolina  and  from  the  Albemarle  and 
Pamlico.  He  laid  off  and  established  in  1725  the  town  of  Bruns- 
wick, about  fifteen  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear,  all 
that  region  being  then  embraced  within  the  territory  of  Carteret 
Precinct,  which  extended  to  the  southern  limits  of  the  province. 
Governor  Burrington  fostered  this  new  settlement,  and  himself 
took  up  lands  on  the  Cape  Fear,  where  he  established  two  planta- 
tions. The  new  colony  prospered  greatly  from  the  first ;  but  when 
Burrington  came  in  as  a  royal  governor,  in  1731,  his  political 
disputes  led  to  personal  antagonisms,  and  becoming  opposed  to 
Moore,  he  sought  to  establish  another  town  higher  up  the  river 
in  opposition  to  Brunswick,  but  without  avail.  However,  his  suc- 
cessor, Governor  Johnston,  purchased  lands  and  became  interested 
in  the  new  settlement,  then  called  Newton,  which  he  later  named 
Wilmington,  and  which  he  proposed  to  foster  by  every  means  at 
the  expense  of  Brunswick.  Within  six  months  after  his  arrival 
he  appointed  courts  to  be  held  at  Newton  on  the  13th  of  May, 
1 735,  and  designated  Newton  as  a  place  for  receiving  quit-rents, 
and  otherwise  sought  to  make  that  place  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment for  that  part  of  the  province.  This  antagonism  of  the  inter- 
ests centered  in  Brunswick  led  to  much  animosity,  and  Moore  and 
his  connections,  who,  because  of  their  great  wealth  and  powerful 
influence,  gave  the  governor  in  his  administration  much  trouble, 
were  referred  to  by  the  governor's  friends  as  "the  family."  The 
controversies  raised  on  either  side  embroiled  the  entire  province, 
until  at  length  the  governor  made  a  compromise  in  1740,  and  about 
that  time  Roger  Moore,  Edward  Moseley  and  Eleazar  Allen,  who 


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MAURICE  MOORE  297 

were  friends  and  connections  of  Colonel  Moore,  became  members 
of  the  Council. 

Colonel  Moore  was  a  strong  man,  and  being  a  brother-in-law 
of  Edward  Moseley  and  stepfather  of  Sam  Swann  and  of  John 
Baptista  Ashe,  he  was  a  directing  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the 
province.  He  was  speaker  of  the  Assembly  of  1725,  and  was 
always  a  member  of  that  body,  and  was  in  entire  co-operation  with 
those  who  controlled  popular  action  among  the  people  and  gave 
direction  to  public  affairs,  and  in  all  the  controversies,  from  the 
purchase  of  the  province  by  the  Crown  until  his  death  in  1743, 
he  was  a  moving  spirit  in  securing  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
people. 

While  Colonel  Moore  was  largely  interested  on  the  lower  Cape 
Fear,  his  principal  plantation  was  at  Rocky  Point,  where  he  re- 
sided toward  the  close  of  his  life  and  was  buried. 

On  the  death  of  his  first  wife  Colonel  Moore  married  Miss 
Porter,  by  whom  he  had  three  children,  Judge  Maurice  Moore, 
General  James  Moore  of  the  Revolution,  and  Rebecca,  who  became 
the  wife  of  General  John  Ashe;  and  by  his  first  wife  he  had  a 
daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  married  Colonel  Jones,  and  many  of 
the  prominent  citizens  of  the  Cape  Fear  are  descended  from  him. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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JAMES    MOORE 

fS  distinguished  and  illustrious  as  were  the  states- 
men of  North  Carolina  during  the  Revolution- 
ary period,  her  sons  also  excelled  in  the  field 
of  military  operations ;  and  among  her  contribu- 
tions to  the  cause  of  independence,  none  was 
more  brilliant  than  James  Moore,  whose  career, 
however,  was  unhappily  brought  to  an  early  close  by  disease 
in  1777. 

His  grandfather,  Governor  James  Moore  of  South  Carolina, 
was  distinguished  as  a  military  officer,  and  his  father,  Colonel 
Maurice  Moore,  was  esteemed  for  his  military  capacity  all  through 
life,  even  in  1743  being  selected  to  command  a  force  of  a  thousand 
men  then  raised  for  the  assistance  of  South  Carolina.  By  Miss 
Porter,  his  second  wife.  Colonel  Moore  had  three  children,  Judge 
Maurice  Moore,  Rebecca,  who  became  the  wife  of  General  John 
Ashe,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  was  bom  in  1737. 

In  his  later  years  Colonel  Moore  resided  on  his  Rocky  Point 
plantation,  and  there  these  children  were  reared  among  their 
kindred,  by  whom  they  were  surrounded.  During  the  French  and 
Indian  War  young  James  Moore  was  appointed  captain  of  a  com- 
pany, and  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  Fort  Johnston.  Gov- 
ernor Dobbs  mentions  that  he  gave  a  company  to  "Captain  James 
Moore,  who  was  a  young  gentleman  of  one  of  the  best  families 
of  the  province,  and   who  for  one  year  commanded  in  Fort 


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JAMES  MOORE  299 


Johnston,  who  was  expert  in  military  discipline  and  well  beloved 
in  the  province."  At  one  time  troops  were  needed  for  the  defense 
of  South  Carolina,  and  Captain  James  Moore  was  directed  to  lead 
that  expedition.  His  service  at  that  early  period  of  his  life  doubt- 
less fitted  him  for  command  when  the  Revolution  came  on.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  1764  and  of  subsequent 
Assemblies,  representing  New  Hanover  in  that  of  1769  and  177D. 
In  1768,  when  Governor  Tryon  organized  his  military  force  to 
put  down  the  Regulators,  he  appointed  Captain  Moore  a  colonel 
of  artillery,  and  put  him  in  command  of  all  the  artillery  used  on 
that  expedition.  Fortunately,  that  episode  ended  without  blood- 
shed. In  1 77 1,  when  Governor  Tryon  was  organizing  another 
force  to  operate  against  the  Regulators,  he  again  appointed  Colonel 
Moore  to  conunand  the  artillery,  and  in  that  capacity  he  accom- 
panied Governor  Tryon's  army  and  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Alamance.  His  conduct  on  that  occasion  must  have  been  entirely 
satisfactory  and  his  efficiency  was  proved.  When  the  crisis  came 
in  American  affairs,  Moore  was  a  bold  and  intrepid  leader.  Of 
close  kin  to  Howe,  the  Ashes,  the  Swanns,  all  substantially  mem- 
bers of  one  household,  he  was  animated  by  the  common  spirit  of 
high  resolve  and  resolute  purpose.  When  the  news  was  received 
on  the  Cape  Fear  that  the  port  of  Boston  had  been  closed,  there 
was  a  general  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  held  at 
Wilmington  on  July  21st.  William  Hooper  presided.  A  com- 
mittee composed  of  Colonel  James  Moore,  John  Ancrum,  Fred- 
crick  Jones,  Samuel  Ashe,  Robert  Howe,  Francis  Qayton  and 
Archibald  Maclaine  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the 
people  of  all  the  counties  of  the  province,  urging  them  to  elect 
deputies  to  attend  a  general  meeting  to  be  held  on  the  20th  of 
August.  James  Moore's  name  appears  first  to  this  circular  letter, 
in  response  to  which  deputies  were  elected  to  the  first  Provincial 
Congress,  which  met  at  New-Bern,  August  25,  1774. 

This  was  the  first  recognition  of  the  sovereign  power  of  the 
people;  the  first  appeal  to  them  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  as 
the  source  of  all  political  power.  Colonel  Harvey  conceived  the 
idea ;  James  Moore  and  his  associates  acted  upon  it  and  made  it 


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300  NORTH  CAROLINA 

a  reality.  When  the  Committee  of  Safety  was  formed,  he  was 
one  of  the  original  members  chosen  by  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Hanover  County.  At  the  third  Provincial  Congress,  held  in 
August,  1775,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  two  Continental 
regiments  were  directed  to  be  raised,  and  James  Moore  and  his 
brother-in-law,  John  Ashe,  were  competitors  for  the  post  of 
honor  as  colonel  of  the  First  Continental  Regiment.  Colonel 
Moore  was  successful  by  a  single  vote,  and  at  once  began  the 
organization  of  his  regiment,  which  later  assembled  at  Wilming- 
ton. At  that  time  Governor  Martin  was  on  board  his  ship,  Fort 
Johnston  having  been  burned,  and  there  perfected  a  plan  for  the 
subjugation  of  North  Carolina  and  the  Southern  colonies.  A  large 
British  force  was  ordered  to  co-operate  with  him,  Stuart,  the 
Indian  agent,  was  to  cause  the  Indians  to  fall  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  provinces,  and  while  the  people  were  engaged  in  driving  them 
back,  the  Loyalists  of  the  interior,  Highlanders  and  Regulators 
chiefly,  were  to  embody  under  appointed  officers  and  were  to 
march  to  the  coast  and  unite  with  the  British  forces.  This  plan, 
well  devised,  was  in  process  of  being  carried  into  effect.  On  the 
loth  of  January,  1776,  Governor  Martin,  conceiving  that  the  time 
had  arrived,  ordered  "Brigadier-General  Donald  McDonald  of 
his  Majesty's  forces,  for  the  time  being  in  North  Carolina,"  to 
erect  the  King's  standard  and  embody  his  forces.  By  the  time 
General  McDonald  and  his  Tories  were  ready  to  march  down  and 
join  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  Colonel  James  Moore  had  beg^  to  concen- 
trate his  troops  below  Cross  Creek.  A  very  brilliant  campaign  under 
Colonel  Moore  of  near  a  month's  duration  ensued,  that  culminated 
in  the  battle  of  Moore's  creek  on  the  27th  of  February,  1776.  The 
troops  that  took  part  in  the  campaign  were  drawn  from  above 
Greensboro  to  the  westward  and  from  below  New-Bern  to  the 
east,  points  that  were  some  200  miles  apart.  There  were  mounted 
men,  infantry  and  artillery  engaged  in  the  campaign.  The  first 
order  issued  bore  date  the  3d  of  February,  and  the  campaign 
closed  victoriously  on  the  27th. 

There  were  at  least  6000  men  actually  on  duty  at  various  points, 
in  consequence  of  the  attempted  junction  between  General  Qinton 


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JAMES  MOORE  301 


and  the  Highlanders.  It  was  a  very  brilliant  campaign,  and 
reflected  the  highest  credit  on  Colonel  Moore,  and  he  received  the 
thanks  of  the  Council  and  Provincial  Congress,  and  immediately 
afterward,  on  the  ist  of  March,  1776,  he  was  promoted  by  the 
Continental  Congress  to  be  brigadier-general,  and  with  his  brigade 
he  hurried  to  Charleston,  which  became  the  object  of  British  attack 
when  their  plans  in  North  Carolina  were  defeated  by  'the  results 
of  the  victory  at  Moore's  Creek.  General  Charles  Lee  had  hurried 
to  Charleston  to  meet  Sir  Henry  Clinton's  force,  and  Moore  con- 
tinued with  him  until  General  Lee  went  South  to  invade  Florida, 
General  Moore  being  then  left  in  command  of  Charleston.  In 
September,  1776,  Lee  returned  to  the  North,  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  South  was  entrusted  to  the  care  of  General  Moore. 

General  Moore  was  a  man  of  delicate  organization  and  a  frail 
constitution,  in  striking  contrast  with  his  heroic  soul  and  fine 
intellectual  capacity.  The  exposure  to  which  he  was  subjected 
that  summer  and  fall  on  the  malarious  coast  of  South  Carolina 
proved  fatal  to  him.  His  health  gave  way,  and  in  January,  1777, 
he  returned  to  the  Cape  Fear,  and  died  on  the  15th  of  that  month, 
lamented  by  all  the  patriots  of  North  Carolina.  It  is  related  that 
he  and  his  brother.  Judge  Maurice  Moore,  expired  in  the  same 
house  on  the  same  day  and  were  buried  together.  Of  General 
Moore  it  has  been  said  "that  he  was  perhaps  the  most  masterful 
military  man  furnished  by  North  Carolina  in  the  war  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  that  probably  he  had  no  superior  in  military 
genius  on  the  Continent." 

General  Moore  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Mayor  De  Rossett  of 
Stamp  Act  fame,  having  married  Miss  Ann  Ivie,  the  sister  of 
Mrs.  De  Rossett.  He  left  two  sons,  Duncan  and  James,  and  two 
daughters,  Sarah,  who  married  Mr.  John  Swann,  and  Mary,  who 
married  Mr.  William  Watters.  One  of  his  descendants,  Colonel 
Alexander  Duncan  Moore,  who  fell  in  the  war  of  1861,  ranked 
high  for  his  military  attainments. 

5*.  A,  Ashe. 


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ALFRED   MOORE 

'WO  North  Carolinians  have  adorned  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
James  Iredell,  and  upon  his  death,  Alfred 
Moore. 

Alfred  Moore  was  a  member  of  the  dis- 
tinguished family  of  that  name  whose  services 
have  for  generations  been  so  important  to  the  people  of  North 
Carolina.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Colonel  Maurice  Moore  and  his 
wife,  Mary  Porter,  and  the  son  of  Judge  Maurice  Moore  and  his 
wife,  Anne  Grange.  General  James  Moore  of  the  Revolution  was 
his  uncle.  His  father  was  bred  to  the  law,  had  been  educated  in  New 
England,  was  a  judge  in  1765,  and  because  of  his  patriotic  action 
in  the  Stamp  Act  proceedings,  was  removed  by  Governor  Tryon, 
but  under  directions  from  the  home  government,  was  after  some 
years  restored  to  his  office,  and  he  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  province  until  the  expiration  of  the  Court  Law  in 
1773.  He  was  particularly  prominent  in  connection  with  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Regulators,  with  whom,  in  their  early  efforts  to 
secure  a  redress  of  grievances,  it  is  said  that  he  sympathized ;  but 
upon  their  excesses  at  Hillsboro,  he  marched  as  a  colonel  in 
Tyron's  force,  in  1768,  to  suppress  them.  It  has  been  said  of 
him  that  he  was  "a  learned  jurist,  an  astute  advocate,  and  a  keen- 
sighted  statesman."  He  was  a  forceful  and  accomplished  writer, 
and  the  celebrated  letter  signed  '*Atticus,"  addressed  to  Governor 


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ALFRED  MOORE  303 


Tryon  upon  his  departure  from  North  Carolina,  has  been  at- 
tributed to  his  pen.  By  his  first  wife,  Miss  Grange,  he  had  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  bom  the  21st  of  May,  1755,  and  a  daughter, 
Sarah,  who  became  the  wife  of  General  Francis  Nash.  Becoming 
a  widower.  Judge  Moore  married  again,  and  possibly  on  that  ac- 
count his  son  Alfred,  at  the  early  age  of  nine,  was  sent,  in  1764, 
to  Boston  to  receive  his  education.  While  there,  young  Alfred 
became  a  favorite  of  a  Captain  Fordyce  of  the  British  army,  from 
whom  he  learnt  the  elements  of  military  science.  Having  re- 
turned home,  on  September  i,  1775,  while  not  yet  of  age,  he  was 
appointed  a  captain  in  the  First  North  Carolina  Regiment  of 
Continentals,  commanded  by  his  uncle,  James  Moore,  and  he 
served  in  the  brilliant  campaign  that  ended  in  the  disastrous  de- 
feat of  the  Highlanders  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge.  Immediately 
thereafter  the  British  army  took  possession  of  the  lower  Cape 
Fear,  and  his  younger  brother,  Maurice,  was  killed  at  Brunswick. 
On  the  departure  of  Sir  Peter  Parker's  fleet  for  Charleston, 
Colonel  Moore's  command  and  some  of  the  North  Carolina 
militia  hurried  to  that  point  to  meet  them,  and  Captain  Moore's 
company  took  part  in  the  engagement  at  Charleston,  where  the 
North  Carolinians  behaved  with  such  gallantry  as  to  draw  from 
General  Charles  Lee  a  high  eulogium  on  their  conduct.  For 
nearly  a  year  the  command  was  on  duty  at  the  South,  and  Cap- 
tain Moore  rendered  efficient  service  to  his  country. 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1777,  General  James  Moore,  whose 
health  had  failed,  died  at  the  home  of  his  brother.  Judge  Maurice 
Moore,  and  it  is  said  that  both  died  in  the  same  house  on  the 
same  day,  and  were  buried  together.  Captain  Moore's  brother- 
in-law.  General  Nash,  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  brigade, 
which  was  then  ordered  to  join  Washington  at  the  North. 

Not  yet  twenty-two  years  of  age,  bereft  of  his  father  and 
brother,  and  with  the  care  of  his  father's  family  thrown  upon 
him,  Captain  Moore  felt  compelled  to  retire  from  the  army  and 
resign  his  commission,  which  he  did  on  the  8th  of  March,  1777. 
He  had  studied  law  and  had  been  admitted  to  practice  at  the 
April  term  of  1775,  and  now  he  again  took  up  professional  work. 


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304  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Although  for  three  years  there  was  no  invasion  of  the  State,  yet 
there  was  much  disaffection  on  the  lower  Cape  Fear  as  well  as 
in  the  interior  of  the  State,  and  there  was  always  need  for  vigi- 
lance and  activity  on  the  part  of  the  patriots.  Captain  Moore,  while 
no  longer  in  the  Continental  Line,  enrolled  himself  in  the  militia, 
and  was  ever  a  zealous  partisan.  Toward  the  close  of  January, 
1781,  Major  Craig  took  possession  of  Wilmington,  and  his  coming 
was  the  signal  for  the  Tories  to  embody,  and  a  vigorous  partizan 
warfare  was  waged  in  all  that  region.  A  detachment  sent  by  Major 
Craig  plundered  Captain  Moore's  house,  burnt  all  the  buildings, 
carried  away  his  stock  and  negroes,  and  utterly  destroyed  his 
property ;  but  his  ardent  patriotism  was  not  shaken  by  these  mis- 
fortunes, and  he  lost  no  opportunity  to  harass  the  enemy  when- 
ever an  occasion  presented.  Judge  Taylor  is  authority  for  the 
statement  that  Major  Craig  made  every  effort  to  kill  or  capture 
him,  and  failing,  sent  him  an  offer  to  restore  his  property  and 
give  him  amnesty  if  he  would  return  to  his  plantation  and  take 
no  further  active  part  in  the  war;  but  Captain  Moore  spumed 
these  offers  and  never  relaxed  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  Indepen- 
dence until  the  final  triumph. 

With  the  rank  of  colonel,  probably  in  command  of  the  militia 
of  Brunswick  County,  Colonel  Moore  joined  General  Lillington 
and  participated  in  the  efforts  to  hedge  Craig's  forces  within  the 
territory  adjacent  to  Wilmington. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  1781,  he  was  judge  advocate  of  a  court 
martial  held  in  Lillington's  camp,  near  Beauford's  Bridge,  of 
which  Colonel  Kenan  was  president.  He  continued  an  active 
soldier  until  the  British  evacuated  the  Cape  Fear. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  in  full  practice,  and  at 
the  June  term,  1782,  of  the  court  for  the  Hillsboro  District,  the 
attorney-general  being  absent,  "the  court  got  the  favor  of 
Colonel  Alfred  Moore  to  officiate  as  attorney  for  the  State,  and 
without  his  assistance,  which  the  court  experienced  in  a  very 
essential  manner,  they  could  not  have  carried  on  the  business.'^ 
At  that  term  there  were  seven  capital  convictions,  among  them 
being  some  for  high  treason.     Speedily  afterward  the  General 


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ALFRED  MOORE  305 


Assembly  appointed  him  attorney-general  of  the  State  to  suc- 
ceed Iredell,  who  had  just  resigned.  He  retained  that  position 
for  eight  years,  when  he  resigned  it  and  retired  to  his  plantation. 
So  popular  was  he  that  when  a  new  county  was  cut  off  from 
Cumberland,  in  1784,  it  was  named  Moore  in  his  honor.  In  1792 
he  represented  Brunswick  County  in  the  Assembly,  and  in  1794 
he  was  urged  as  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
to  succeed  Hawkins,  but  he  was  defeated  by  Timothy  Blood- 
worth  by  a  single  vote.  His  political  sentiments  were  those  of 
Washington  and  Hamilton  rather  than  of  Jefferson,  but  he  doubt- 
less agreed  in  his  Constitutional  views  with  Judge  Iredell,  whose 
dissenting  opinion  in  the  case  of  Chisholm  v.  State  of  Georgia 
became  the  comer-stone  of  the  Democratic-Republican  Party. 
In  1798,  the  Legislature  being  thoroughly  Republican,  he  was 
elected  one  of  the  judges  of  the  State;  and  his  reputation  was  so 
high  that  on  the  death  of  Judge  Iredell  in  October,  1799,  he  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to 
succeed  him.  He  remained  on  the  bench  until  1804,  when  failing 
health  led  to  his  retirement,  and  he  died  on  the  15th  of  October, 
1810,  at  the  home  of  Major  Waddell.  Early  in  life  Judge  Moore 
was  married  to  Miss  Eagles,  and  by  her  had  several  children, 
one  of  whom,  Anne,  married  Major  Waddell. 

Judge  Moore  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee  from  the  date  of  its  incorpo- 
ration to  1807,  and  he  ever  sought  to  promote  its  prosperity. 

Judge  Murphey  in  an  address  before  the  literary  societies  of  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  has  said :  "Two  individuals  who  re- 
ceived their  education  during  the  war  were  destined  to  keep  alive 
a  remnant  of  our  literature  and  prepare  the  public  mind  for  the 
establishment  of  this  University.  They  were  William  R.  Davie 
and  Alfred  Moore.  Each  of  them  had  endeared  himself  to  his 
country  by  taking  an  active  part  in  the  latter  scenes  of  the  war, 
and  when  public  order  was  restored  and  the  courts  of  justice  were 
opened,  they  appeared  at  the  bar,  where  they  quickly  rose  to 
eminence,  and  for  many  years  shone  like  meteors  in  North  Caro- 
lina.   Publfc  opinion  was  divided  upon  the  question  as  to  whether 


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3o6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Moore  or  Davie  excelled  at  the  Bar.  Davie  is  certainly  to  be 
ranked  among  the  first  orators,  and  his  rival,  Moore,  among  the 
first  advocates  which  the  American  nation  has  produced." 

Chief  Justice  Taylor  says  that  Judge  Moore  "discharged  for  a 
series  of  years  the  arduous  duties  of  the  office  of  attorney-gen- 
eral in  a  manner  which  commanded  the  admiration  and  gratitude 
of  his  contemporaries."  And  he  speaks  particularly  of  "his  pro- 
found knowledge  of  the  criminal  law." 

Taking  him  all  in  all,  he  was  one  of  the  most  masterful  men 
who  have  adorned  the  annals  of  North  Carolina, 

S.  A  Ashe. 


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HARDY   MURFREE 

JN  the  Tennessee  county  of  Rutherford  is  a  town 
called  Murfreesborough  as  a  compliment  to 
Hardy  Murfree,  an  officer  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Line  in  the  Continental  army  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  who  entered  the  service 
as  a  captain  and  came  out  with  the  rank  of 
Ueutenant-colonei.  This  gentleman  was  a  native  of  Hertford 
County,  North  Carolina,  where  there  is  also  a  town  of  Murfrees- 
borough ;  but  the  latter  was  named  in  honor  of  his  father,  William 
Murfree,  not  for  Hardy  Murfree  himself,  as  is  generally  supposed. 
William  Murfree,  father  of  our  subject,  was  long  a  citizen  of 
Hertford  County,  which  was  erected  out  of  the  counties  of 
Chowan,  Bertie  and  Northampton.  In  1764  a  change  was  made 
in  the  boundary  of  Hertford,  and  William  Murfree  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  who  ran  the  line.  About  the  year  1768  William 
Murfree  became  high  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Hertford,  and  held 
that  post  for  several  years.  In  the  war  of  the  Revolution  he  was 
an  unswerving  Whig,  representing  Hertford  County  in  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  of  North  Carolina  at  Hillsboro,  in  August,  1775, 
and  in  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Halifax,  in  November,  1776. 

The  home  of  William  Murfree  was  originally  called  Murfree's 
Landing,  but  in  1786  a  town  was  laid  out  on  his  plantation  and 
called  Murfreesboro. 

The  date  of  William  Murfree's  birth  was  1730.    He  married 


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308  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Mary  Moore,  and  left  quite  a  number  of  children  in  addition  to 
Colonel  Hardy  Murfree,  of  whose  career  we  shall  now  speak. 

Hardy  Murfree  was  bom  on  the  5th  of  June,  1752.  He  early 
showed  a  military  inclination.  As  far  back  as  May  28,  1772,  we 
find  on  a  roster  of  the  Hertford  Regiment  of  militia,  made  up  by 
Colonel  Benjamin  Wynns,  that  Hardy  Murfree  had  been  serving 
as  ensign,  and  was  recommended  for  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant.  Soon  there  came  a  time  when  his  services  were  needed 
for  more  serious  purposes.  The  Revolution  having  commenced, 
he  was  commissioned  on  September  i,  1775,  a  captain  in  the 
Second  North  Carolina  Continental  Regiment,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Robert  Howe,  afterward  major-general.  The  Second 
Regiment  was  ordered  to  Virginia  in  December,  1775,  and  aided 
in  the  operations  against  Lord  Dunmore.  It  did  not,  however, 
arrive  in  time  to  participate  in  the  battle  of  Great  Bridge,  which 
was  fought  on  December  9th,  and  it  returned  to  North  Carolina 
early  in  1776.  Votes  of  thanks  to  Colonel  Howe  and  his  men 
were  passed  both  by  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  and  the 
North  Carolina  Assembly.  Howe  was  made  a  brigadier-general 
in  the  Continental  Army  on  March  i,  1776;  and,  on  the  loth  of 
April,  Alexander  Martin,  afterward  governor,  became  colonel  of 
the  Second.  The  esteem  in  which  Hardy  Murfree  was  held  by 
General  Howe  may  be  gathered  from  a  letter  dated  Savannah, 
Georgia,  March  15,  1777,  and  addressed  to  Governor  Caswell,  in 
which  Howe  said:  "Captain  Murfree,  the  bearer  of  this  letter, 
has  through  the  whole  service,  since  he  commenced  as  an  officer, 
every  part  of  which  has  been  very  fatiguing,  and  some  of  it 
dangerous,  behaved  with  spirit  and  in  every  way  worthily,  I 
wish  to  recommend  him  to  the  notice  of  his  country,  which  he 
truly  deserves." 

On  November  22,  1777,  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Patten  suc- 
ceeded to  the  command  of  the  Second  Regiment  upon  the  resig- 
nation of  Colonel  Alexander  Martin,  and  Patten  was  the  last 
colonel  under  whom  Major  Murfree  served  while  he  remained  in 
the  Second. 

In  a  letter  from  Major  Murfree  dated  October  25,  1777,  from 


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HARDY  MURFREE  309 


Hertford  County  (where  he  was  on  recruiting  duty),  he  speaks 
of  preparing  to  go  to  the  main  army,  so  he  no  doubt  reached  it 
in  time  to  have  a  share  in  the  terrible  winter  experiences  of 
1777-78  at  Valley  Forge,  as  well  as  in  the  battles  fought  by  Wash- 
ington about  that  time.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  in 
New  Jersey,  on  the  28th  of  June,  1778. 

Murfree's  most  daring  exploit  during  the  Revolution,  and  the 
one  which  gained  for  him  the  greatest  renown,  was  the  part  he 
bore  in  the  capture  of  Stony  Point  under  General  Wayne,  before 
dawn  on  the  16th  of  July,  1779.  Washington  himself  prepared 
the  plans  for  this  attack,  and  the  men  who  carried  them  out  were 
much  of  the  same  make-up  as  Wayne  himself,  who,  when  asked 
by  the  commander-in-chief  if  he  was  willing  to  storm  the  fort, 
answered:  "I  will  storm  Hell  if  you  plan  it."  In  his  "Story  of 
the  Revolution"  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  describes  the  assault  on  Stony 
Point  in  these  words :  "Major  Murfree  and  his  North  Carolinians 
in  the  center  were  delayed  by  the  tide  in  crossing  the  morass,  and 
as  they  came  through  they  met  an  outpost.  A  heavy  fire  of 
grapeshot  and  musketry  opened  upon  them.  On  they  went  with- 
out a  pause  as  if  they  were  the  only  troops  on  the  field,  and  every 
other  column  and  division  did  the  same.  Wayne  himself  led  the 
right  wing.  As  he  crossed  the  abatis  a  musket  ball  struck  him 
on  the  head,  bringing  him  down  and  wounding  him  slightly. 
Dazed  as  he  was  by  the  blow,  he  called  out  that  if  he  was  mortally 
hurt  he  wanted  to  die  in  the  fort,  and  his  aides  picked  him  up 
and  bore  him  forward.  The  rush  of  the  well-directed  columns  was 
irresistible.  So  swift  and  steady  was  the  movement  that  they 
passed  the  abatis  and  went  up  and  over  the  breastworks  without 
check  or  hesitation.  All  was  finished  in  a  few  minutes.  Some 
heavy  firing  from  the  works,  a  short,  sharp  rush,  a  clash  and  push 
of  bayonets  in  the  darkness,  and  the  Americans  poured  into  the 
fort."  In  Wayne's  first  despatch  to  General  Washington  he  did 
not  properly  credit  Major  Murfree  and  some  of  the  other  officers 
who  had  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  and  he 
hastened  to  make  amends  for  this  neglect.  Writing  under  date 
of  August  10,  1779,  to  President  John  Jay,  who  had  transmitted 


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3IO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

to  him  some  resolutions  (relative  to  his  exploit)  which  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  had  passed,  Wayne  said :  "Whilst  I  experience 
every  sensation  arising  from  a  consciousness  of  having  used  my 
best  endeavors  to  carry  the  orders  of  my  general  into  execution,  I 
feel  much  hurt  that  I  did  not,  in  my  letter  to  him  of  the  17th  of 
July,  mention  (among  other  brave  and  worthy  officers)  the  names 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Sherman  and  Majors  Hull,  Murfree  and 
Posey,  whose  good  conduct  and  intrepidity  entitled  them  to  that 
attention.  Permit  me,  therefore,  through  your  Excellency,  to  do 
them  that  justice  now  which  the  state  of  my  wound  diverted  mc 
from  in  the  first  instance." 

On  February  17,  1780,  about  seven  months  after  the  affair  at 
Stony  Point,  the  marriage  of  Major  Murfree  took  place  in  Hert- 
ford County.  Of  this  marriage  we  shall  speak  later  on.  He  was, 
during  that  year,  on  recruiting  duty  in  his  native  county,  also 
finding  occasion  in  the  fall  to  march  into  Virginia  in  pursuit  of 
the  enemy.  Hertford  County  and  its  vicinity  were  invaded  by 
plundering  bands  of  Tories  on  several  occasions.  Speaking  of 
one  of  these  in  a  letter  to  General  Sumner,  dated  Murfree's  Land- 
ing, July  22,  1781,  Murfree  said:  "A  party  of  the  enemy  came 
from  Suffolk  to  South  Key  on  the  i6th  instant  and  destroyed 
the  warehouses,  rum,  tobacco,  etc.,  at  that  place.  The  next  day 
they  marched  to  Wine  Oak  and  Maney's  Ferry,  which  is  within 
twelve  miles  of  this  place,  and  burned  Mr.  Maney's  dwelling  house, 
with  upward  of  one  hundred  barrels  of  sugar,  a  large  quantity  of 
rum,  rigging,  coffee,  etc.  They  also  destroyed  a  large  quantity  of 
rum,  sugar,  coffee,  wine,  etc.,  at  Wine  Oak,  took  all  the  horses, 
and  plundered  the  inhabitants  in  a  cruel  manner.  They  were 
expected  at  the  Pitch  Landing,  which  is  four  miles  above  this 
and  a  place  of  considerable  trade.  I  turned  out  and  raised  between 
sixty  and  seventy  men  and  took  post  at  Skinner's  Bridge,  on  the 
Meherin  River,  an  advantageous  post,  which  is  generally  supposed 
to  have  prevented  their  coming  this  far.  ...  I  should  be  much 
obliged  to  you,  if  I  am  not  greatly  wanted  in  camp,  to  let  me  stay 
in  this  part  of  the  country  while  the  enemy  continues  so  near.*' 

A  letter  written  to  the  governor  by  Murfree  on  the  7th  of  Sep- 


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HARDY  MURFREE  3" 

tember,  1781,  shows  that  he  was  restive  on  account  of  the  inac- 
tivity which  was  then  his  lot.  He  says:  "I  have  no  command, 
and  would  wish  to  be  doing  something.  If  I  had  permission,  I 
could  raise  a  party  of  horsemen.  .  .  .  After  completing  the  party, 
with  your  Excellency's  permission,  I  will  march  to  Virginia." 

Murfree's  commission  as  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Continental 
Line  of  North  Carolina  bore  date  from  April  i,  1778,  but  it  was 
not  issued  until  a  year  or  more  thereafter.  In  the  time  inter- 
vening he  continued  to  act  as  major.  Owing  to  the  re-arrange- 
ment of  the  regiments  early  in  1778,  there  was  confusion  as  to 
the  ranks  of  officers,  and  some  of  these  cases  were  not  settled 
until  1782,  though  the  commissions  then  made  out  were  to  date 
from  1778.  During  the  summer  of  1782  Colonel  Murfree  was 
part  of  the  time  in  camp  at  Bacon's  Bridge,  near  the  Virginia 
boundary,  and  part  of  the  time  on  recruiting  duty  at  his  home 
in  Hertford  County.  In  March,  1782,  he  was  president  of  a  board 
of  officers  to  settle  ranks  of  the  different  officers  and  designate 
regiments  to  which  they  should  be  attached.  In  the  following 
month  (April,  1782)  he  was  brigade  commander  in  the  absence 
of  General  Sumner. 

Though  determined  to  remain  in  the  field  as  long  as  he  was 
needed.  Colonel  Murfree  was  anxious  about  the  condition  of  his 
family,  and  wished  to  retire  in  the  fall  of  1782,  when  the  war 
was  about  over,  Comwallis  having  surrendered  a  year  before. 
From  Halifax,  on  November  22,  1782,  Murfree  wrote  General 
Sumner:  "It  will  suit  me  to  retire,  agreeable  to  the  resolve  of 
Congress,  having  a  family  that  cannot  do  well  without  my  pres- 
ence." It  was  not  until  the  ist  of  January,  1783,  however,  that 
Colonel  Murfree  was  regularly  discharged,  or  "deranged,"  as  the 
rosters  call  mustering  out. 

Both  during  and  after  the  Revolution  Colonel  Murfree  was 
commissioner  of  confiscated  properly  for  the  district  of  Edenton, 
being  one  of  those  charged  with  the  duty  of  carrying  into  effect 
the  acts  which  the  Assembly  passed  providing  for  the  confiscation 
of  the  property  of  those  who  sided  with  the  King.  When  the 
North  Carolina  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  was  established  in  1783, 


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312  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Murfree  was  a  member,  and  is  now  represented  therein  by  one 
of  his  descendants,  William  Law  Murfree,  son  of  the  late  Professor 
William  Law  Murfree  of  the  Law  Department  of  the  University 
of  Colorado. 

A  few  years  after  the  war  Colonel  Murfree  was  summoned,  with 
other  Continental  officers,  to  appear  before  a  legislative  committee 
and  testify  against  persons  charged  with  frauds  in  connection 
with  public  lands.  After  these  witnesses  had  testified  the  Assembly 
passed  a  resolution,  December  26,  1787,  expressing  its  '*high  and 
proper  sense  of  the  laudable  conduct,  ready  attendance  and  former 
as  well  as  present  public-spirited  exertions  of  those  gentlemen." 

On  January  5,  1787,  Murfree  was  elected  lieutenant-colonel 
commandant  of  North  Carolina  militia  for  the  district  of  Edenton. 

Prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  young  Hardy  Murfree  be- 
came engaged  to  Sally  Brickell,  daughter  of  the  Hertford  County 
Revolutionary  patriot,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Matthias  Brickell,  and 
his  first  wife,  Rachel  Noailles.  The  first  of  the  name  of  Brickell 
who  came  to  North  Carolina  were  two  brothers,  John 
Brickell,  M.D.,  a  naturalist  and  one  of  the  earliest  historians  of  the 
colony,  and  the  Rev.  Matthias  Brickell,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  came  to  North  Carolina 
under  the  patronage  of  Governor  George  Burrington.  Colonel 
Brickell,  above  mentioned,  was  a  son  of  the  parson.  His  wife, 
nee  Noailles,  was  of  Huguenot  ancestry.  While  the  fierce  battles 
of  Washington's  northern  campaigns  were  being  fought,  Sally 
Brickell  was  more  than  once  shocked  by  reports  of  the  death  of 
Murfree,  but  he  safely  came  back  with  his  well-won  honors,  and 
they  were  married  on  February  17,  1780,  before  hostilities  closed. 
To  this  union  were  born  seven  children,  two  sons,  William  Hardy 
and  Matthias  Brickell,  and  five  daughters. 

Colonel  Murfree's  wife,  mother  of  the  above  children,  died 
March  29,  1802,  prior  to  her  husband's  removal  to  Tennessee. 

While  a  young  man  Hardy  Murfree  became  a  Mason,  and  took 
an  active  interest  in  the  order  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  Prior 
to  the  Revolution,  Provincial  Grand  Master  Joseph  Montfort  had 
chartered  Royal  William  Lodge,  No.  8,  at  Winton,  in  Hertford 


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HARDY  MURFREE  313 

County.  It  was  numbered  6  after  the  war.  When  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  North  Carolina  was  reorganized  at  Tarborough  on  the 
27th  of  December,  1787,  the  delegates  from  this  lodge  were  Hardy 
Murfree,  Patrick  Garvey  and  William  Person  Little.  Anything 
"Royal"  could  not  enjoy  much  popularity  in  the  patriotic  county 
of  Hertford  after  independence  had  been  won,  so,  in  1799,  Royal 
William  Lodge  surrendered  its  charter,  and  Colonel  Murfree  be- 
came connected  with  a  new  lodge  named  for  that  illustrious  Mason 
who  had  been  his  commander-in-chief  in  the  war  for  independence. 
This  was  American  George  Lodge,  No.  17,  at  Murfreesboro.  No 
sooner  had  Colonel  Murfree  gone  to  Tennessee  than  he  also  began 
to  labor  for  the  upbuilding  of  Masonry  in  that  State.  In  the 
archives  of  the  old  Grand  Lodge  of  North  Carolina  and  Tennes- 
see, now  deposited  at  Raleigh,  we  find  a  letter  from  him,  dated 
"near  Franklin,"  October  25,  1808,  enclosing  a  petition,  dated 
October  13th,  from  nine  Masons,  asking  for  a  dispensation  to 
establish  Franklin  Lodge,  which  was  later  chartered  (Decem- 
ber II,  1809)  as  Hiram  Lodge,  No.  55,  of  North  Carolina,  and 
No.  7  of  Tennessee. 

It  was  about  the  year  1807  that  Colonel  Murfree  left  North 
Carolina  and  made  his  home  in  Williamson  County,  Tennessee,  not 
many  miles  from  Franklin,  at  a  place  known  as  Murfree's  Fork 
of  West  Harpeth  River.  In  the  adjoining  county  of  Rutherford 
was  the  town  of  Cannonsburgh,  and  the  name  of  this  was  changed 
to  Murfreesborough,  as  a  compliment  to  Colonel  Murfree,  in  181 1, 
after  his  death.  Murfreesborough  was  the  capital  of  Tennessee 
from  1819  till  1826,  and  many  fierce  battles  of  the  war  between 
the  States  were  fought  in  its  vicinity. 

Colonel  Murfree  died  in  Williamson  County,  Tennessee,  on 
the  6th  of  April,  1809,  but  it  was  not  until  the  9th  of  the  follow- 
ing July  that  the  Masonic  and  other  public  ceremonies  were  con- 
ducted over  his  grave.  Describing  the  latter  occasion,  the  Demo- 
cratic  Clarion,  a  Nashville  newspaper,  in  its  issue  of  July  21st, 
said  in  part :  "On  the  procession  arriving  at  the  gate  of  the  garden, 
the  Philanthropic  Lodge  stopped,  and  the  Franklin  Lodge  ad- 
vanced first  to  the  g^ve.     At  the  conclusion  of  the  Masonic 


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314  NORTH  CAROLINA 

funeral  rites,  the  subjoined  oration  was  delivered  by  Felix 
Grundy,  Esq.,  after  which  the  military  advanced  and  fired  three 
volleys  over  the  grave.  The  surrounding  hills  were  covered  with 
vast  numbers  of  people,  and  the  awful  silence  which  pervaded 
such  an  immense  crowd  evinced  the  feelings  of  the  spectators 
for  the  memory  and  virtues  of  the  deceased." 

The  above-mentioned  oration  by  Judge  Grundy  is  reprinted  in 
the  Raleigh  Register  of  September  14,  1809.  Further  interesting 
data  as  to  Colonel  Murfree  will  be  found  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"Proceedings  of  the  Tennessee  Historical  Society  at  Murfrees- 
borough,  December  8,  1885."  This  work  contains  an  account 
of  the  presentation  of  the  sword  of  Colonel  Murfree  to  the  Ten- 
nessee Historical  Society  on  behalf  of  his  descendants,  the  address 
of  presentation  being  made  by  one  of  that  number,  Major  David  D. 
Maney,  who,  in  conclusion,  said :  "In  the  name  of  all  his  descend- 
ants, this  sword  is  now  committed  to  the  guardianship  of  the 
Historical  Society  as  a  most  interesting  relic  and  memorial  of  one 
who,  if  he  may  not  be  considered  ope  of  the  founders  of  the 
Republic,  was  the  friend,  the  companion  and  the  ever  faithful  co- 
laborer  of  those  who  were  its  founders.  The  Revolutionary 
worthies  have  all  passed  away,  but  their  work  remains,  stupendous 
and  magnificent,  surpassing  their  most  sanguine  conceptions  or 
wildest  dreams.  It  is  that  of  a  great  Republic,  founded  on  the 
inalienable  rights  of  man,  existing  under  a  benign  Constitution 
and  equal  laws,  upon  a  theatre  so  vast,  and  presenting  an  aggre- 
gate of  happiness,  prosperity  and  enlightenment,  as  was  never 
before  attained  in  any  age  or  country." 

In  addition  to  the  address  by  Major  Maney  just  quoted,  the 
above  pamphlet  contains  the  speech  of  acceptance  by  President 
John  M.  Lea  of  the  Historical  Society,  and  a  biographical  sketch 
of  Hardy  Murfree  by  his  grandson,  the  late  Colonel  William  Law 
Murfree,  whose  father  was  William  Hardy  Murfree,  heretofore 
mentioned.  A  daughter  of  Colonel  William  Law  Murfree  is  the 
novelist  Miss  Mary  Noailles  Murfree,  better  known  (by  her 
pseudonym)  as  Charles  Egbert  Craddock. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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JOHN    MILTON    ODELL 

'HE  career  of  Captain  John  Milton  Odell,  whose 
name  is  so  closely  associated  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  milling  interests  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  particularly  with  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  Concord,  presents  a  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  capabilities  of  former  Con- 
federate soldiers  to  achieve  distinction  in  the  paths  of  peace.  It 
is  a  reflection  that  must  be  gratifying  to  every  patriotic  North 
Carolinian  that,  great  as  has  been  the  development  of  the  indus- 
trial interests  of  our  people,  many  of  the  leaders  and  most  suc- 
cessful men  in  these  new  enterprises  are  North  Carolinians  by 
birth,  and  in  their  earlier  days  were  among  the  brave  and  gallant 
followers  of  Lee  and  Jackson,  and  showed  their  manhood  by  their 
endurance  and  courageous  daring  during  those  days  of  Southern 
heroism.  Magnificent  soldiers  they  were  in  war,  and  now  they 
have  become  great  captains  of  industry  in  peace. 

Captain  Odell  sprang  from  a  parentage  whose  traditions  were 
well  calculated  to  nourish  a  bold  and  active  spirit  among  the  men 
of  that  family.  His  great-grandfather,  Nehemiah  O'Dell,  emi- 
grated from  Ireland,  landing  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  but  event- 
ually located  in  Pennsylvania,  near  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  He 
was  fond  of  sport,  and  often  in  the  winter's  evenings  around  a 
blazing  log  fire  at  the  North  Carolina  home  of  his  son  Isaac  he 
would  tell  of  his  adventures  and  of  the  fine  deer  he  had  killed  at 


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3i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  very  spot  where  a  century  later  the  first  Centennial  Ex- 
hibition was  held  in  the  United  States.  His  son,  Isaac  O'Dell, 
married  Mary  Bowden  and  settled  in  Randolph  County.  Of 
Mary  Bowden  it  is  related  that  while  a  little  girl  she  gave  an 
exhibition  of  the  bravery  and  spirit  which  characterized  alike  the 
men  and  women  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

One  day  a  party  of  Redcoats  rode  up  to  her  father's  house,  and 
taking  possession,  demanded  food  for  themselves  and  for  their 
horses.  After  seeing  the  animals  fed,  they  returned  to  the  house 
to  regale  themselves.  Mary  seeing  her  opportunity,  opened  the 
barnyard  gate  and  turned  the  horses  loose,  so  that  when  the 
troopers  were  ready  to  remount  and  start  on  their  journey  in 
pursuit  of  some  enterprise,  they  found  themselves  delayed  and 
lost  the  opportunity  to  accomplish  the  purpose  they  had  in  view. 

A  son  of  this  union,  James  O'Dell,  married  Anna  Trogdon, 
who  was  a  daughter  of  Solomon  Trogdon  and  his  wife,  Tabitha 
Yorke.  Her  father,  Solomon  Trogdon,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
American  Revolution,  and  during  one  of  his  encounters  with  the 
British  was  captured  by  Tarleton,  but  fortunately  effected  his 
escape  and  was  able  to  join  General  Greene,  and  fought  at  the 
battle  of  Guilford  Court  House.  Their  son,  John  Milton  Odell, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  bom  January  20,  1831,  on  his 
father's  farm  near  Cedar  Falls  in  Randolph  County,  and  grew 
to  manhood  under  the  guiding  care  of  his  parents,  studying  in 
winter  and  helping  on  the  farm  in  the  summer.  He  made  such 
good  use  of  his  opportunities  that  after  completing  his  education 
he  himself  was  prepared  to  teach,  and  he  taught  school  for  sev- 
eral years,  doubtless  receiving  benefit  from  this  employment  not 
only  in  the  way  of  intellectual  training,  but  in  the  self-discipline 
imposed  by  this  occupation.  In  April,  1856,  he  became  interested 
as  a  stockholder  in  the  Cedar  Falls  Manufacturing  Company,  and 
he  was  engaged  until  the  spring  of  1861  as  a  salesman  in  the 
store  of  that  company,  being  there  closely  associated  with  Mr. 
John  B.  Troy,  whose  character,  founded  on  the  bedrock  of 
truth  and  honor,  was  an  inspiration  and  confirmed  him  in  his 
adherence  to  high  ideals  in  business  life.    The  war  breaking  out. 


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JOHN  MILTON  ODELL  317 

he  gave  up  this  position,  and  with  his  brother  Laban  raised  a 
company  of  which  he  became  the  captain,  his  brother  being  first 
lieutenant.  The  company  was  known  as  the  Randolph  Hornets, 
and  was  organized  in  June,  1861,  as  Company  M  of  the  Twelth 
Regiment  of  North  Carolina  Volunteers,  Colonel  J.  Johnston  Pet- 
tigrew  being  the  colonel;  but  later,  when  the  ten  regiments  of 
State  troops  were  organized,  taking  precedence  in  number  over 
the  volunteer  regfiments,  this  became  the  Twenty-Second  Regi- 
ment Carefully  trained  and  disciplined  by  that  admirable  officer, 
Colonel  Pettigrew,  the  career  of  this  regiment  during  the  entire 
war  reflected  the  highest  credit  on  the  State.  Immediately  on  its 
organization  it  was  ordered  to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  and 
then  to  the  Peninsula.  Captain  Odell,  who  possessed  every  char- 
acteristic that  could  fit  him  for  a  conspicuous  military  career,  was 
identified  with  its  fine  record  on  the  Potomac  and  in  the  Peninsula, 
until  after  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines ;  when  the  period  of  his  en- 
listment having  expired,  and  the  regiment  being  reorganized, 
because  of  feeble  health  he  retired  from  the  service,  being  suc- 
ceeded in  command  of  his  company  by  his  brother.  Of  his 
brother  it  may  be  said  that  he  was  a  magnificent  soldier ;  that  his 
daring  and  courageous  action  at  Marye's  Heights  brought  him 
merited  promotion  as  major  of  the  regiment,  and  that  after  pass- 
ing through  many  perils,  he  fell  mortally  wounded  on  May  3, 
1863,  during  that  famous  movement  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  when 
he  led  the  North  Carolina  brigades  across  Hooker's  front,  and 
striking  the  Federal  army  in  rear  and  in  flank,  gained  the  great 
victory  of  Chancellorsville. 

Captain  Odell,  on  returning  home,  resumed  his  connection  with 
the  Cedar  Falls  Manufacturing  Company,  becoming  a  stock- 
holder in  it,  and  acting  as  its  business  agent.  Thus  for  more  than 
forty  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  manufacturing  in  North  Caro- 
lina, having  had  a  longer  connection  with  that  business  than  any 
other  manufacturer  now  living  in  the  State,  and  standing  among 
the  first  in  successful  achievement  and  in  the  importance  of  his 
various  enterprises. 

In  1877  he  bought  the  old  McDonald  Mill  at  Concord,  one  of 


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3i8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  oldest  mills  in  the  State,  built  in  1839,  having  then  but  two 
thousand  spindles  and  fifty  looms.  Under  his  splendiH  manage- 
ment this  mill  has  since  become  the  parent  of  a  system  composed 
of  five  mills,  running  43,000  spindles  and  1800  looms,  with  a  cash 
capital  of  $600,000. 

In  this  field  of  work  Captain  Odell  has  no  superior  in  the 
State ;  and  as  an  organizer  and  manager  he  has  been  particularly 
successful.  No  strike  has  ever  occurred  at  any  of  his  factories, 
and  he  has  been  able  to  maintain  at  all  times  the  most  pleasant  re- 
lations with  his  employees.  The  erection  of  his  mills  has  been 
accompanied  by  the  establishment  of  schoolhouses  and  of  churches, 
and  he  promotes  every  influence  that  tends  to  the  advantage  of 
those  in  his  employment,  so  that  they  regard  him  as  a  friend  and 
not  merely  as  the  head  of  the  corporation. 

So  successful  has  he  been  in  his  cotton  manufacturing  that  he 
has  advanced  step  by  step  in  increasing  his  interests  in  that  line 
of  industry.  He  was  largely  instrumental  in  organizing  the  Odell 
Manufacturing  Company,  the  Cannon  Manufacturing  Company, 
and  the  Kerr  Bag  Manufacturing  Company,  all  at  Concord;  the 
J.  M.  Odell  Manufacturing  Company  at  Bynums,  Chatham 
County,  North  Carolina ;  the  Durham  Cotton  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany and  the  Pearl  Cotton  Mills  at  Durham ;  the  Salisbury  Cotton 
Mills  at  Salisbury,  and  the  Southern  Cotton  Mills  at  Bessemer  City. 

On  organizing  each  of  these  companies  he  became  the  president 
and  retained  the  management  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  he  pre- 
ferred to  devote  his  attention  more  exclusively  to  the  business  of 
the  Odell  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  Kerr  Bag  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  the  factory  at  Bynums,  the  Southern  Cotton  Mills, 
and  his  individual  enterprise,  the  Magnolia  Mills,  Concord,  North 
Carolina. 

Besides  being  interested  in  cotton  manufacturing,  Captain  Odell 
has  organized  many  other  enterprises  that  have  given  life  and 
growth  and  prosperity  to  Concord.  Possessing  fine  executive 
abilities  and  gifted  with  business  talents  of  a  high  order,  he  has 
devised  improvements  and  carried  them  into  operation  with  a 
success  that  commands  admiration.    He  is  a  charter  member  of 


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JOHN  MILTON  ODELL  319 

the  Greensboro  National  Bank,  and  has  been  a  director  since  its 
organization ;  he  is  president  of  the  Concord  National  Bank,  and 
until  recently  he  directed  the  affairs  of  the  Concord  Electric 
Light  Company;  indeed  he  has  been  the  greatest  factor  in  the 
improvement  of  Concord, 

A  sagacious  financier,  he  has  year  by  year  made  handsome  addi- 
tions to  his  fortune,  and  has  increased  his  great  business  until 
he  has  attained  an  eminent  position  in  financial  as  well  as  in  indus- 
trial circles,  and  he  takes  rank  among  the  foremost  men  of  the 
State  for  high  capacity  as  well  as  for  integrity,  prudence  and 
successful  management. 

Prior  to  the  war  Captain  Odell  affiliated  with  the  Whig  Party, 
but  since  the  war  and  reconstruction  times,  he  has  been  a  Demo- 
crat ;  and  while  not  seeking  public  office  or  political  preferment, 
he  has  exerted  a  large  influence  among  his  Democratic  associates. 
The  members  of  his  family  on  both  the  maternal  and  paternal 
sides  have  for  generations  been  Methodists,  and  he  has  ever  been 
loyal  to  the  interest  and  welfare  of  his  church;  and  throughout 
life  he  has  always  been  a  strict  observer  of  high  moral  principles, 
while  in  social  life  he  is  a  fine  type  of  the  Christian  gentleman. 

Captain  Odell  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Re- 
becca Kirkman,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Kirkman,  Esq.,  of  Randolph 
County,  to  whom  he  was  married  on  March  9th,  1854,  and  who 
bore  him  two  sons,  William  R.  Odell  and  James  T.  Odell,  and  one 
daughter,  Ollie  Makepeace  Durham,  wife  of  S.  J.  Durham, 
Bessemer  city.  Mrs.  Odell  died  June  13th,  1889,  and  on  August 
4th,  1891,  he  married  Mrs.  Addie  A.  White,  daughter  of  R.  W. 
Allison  and  Sarah  Anne  Phifer  Allison  of  Concord,  North  Caro- 
lina. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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JAMES   ALEXANDER  ODELL 


MID  the  hills  and  mountains  of  the  old  North 
State  has  grown  up  a  vigorous  type  of  men 
representing  the  flower  of  true  yeomanry. 
Randolph  County,  famous  for  fertile  fields  and 
picturesque  hills  and  river  valleys,  has  given  to 
our  commonwealth  a  valuable  portion  of  such 
citizens. 

On  November  4,  1841,  James  Alexander  Odell  was  bom  at 
Cedar  Falls,  in  this  county.  His  father,  James  Odell,  was  a  sturdy, 
successful  farmer.  Like  so  many  of  the  prominent  men  of  this 
nation,  Mr.  J.  A.  Odell  was  reared  in  the  country  home,  on  the 
farm.  Here  he  learned  from  youth  the  essential  lessons  of  self- 
reliance  and  industry.  Having  a  good  ancestry,  he  inherited  from 
childhood  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  Under  good  parental 
influence,  he  was  trained  in  habits  of  early  rising  and  active  work. 
Having  had  the  advantages  only  of  a  common-school  education, 
Mr.  Odell,  by  contact  with  active  men,  and  by  dint  of  well-directed 
thought  and  energy,  has  developed  that  practical  education  essen- 
tial to  the  eminent  success  which  he  has  worthily  achieved  in  his 
life  work. 

By  his  own  personal  preference,  he  began  merchandising  in 
Randolph  County,  among  his  own  people,  in  1865.  Having  defi- 
nitely chosen  his  vocation,  he  was  fortunate,  during  the  same 


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JAMKS    ALKXANIM  k    uDI.LL 


MID  tro   •!:i!'^  ami  nu)uiita:i  s    ;t  the  ol«:    N 
Skri^  lias   p'-vAH   up  a   v'^oroiis   t\i»e  rf 


p:et*iro«(;\e  I  i!'u  an'!  ri\i''  \;ill'^vs,  lias  t.' 
our  connr.oinv«\il'l;  a  valu  ^  !e  pt'»rlii>n  (  : 
ci:  /ciis. 

( \\    ^.v^'^^o^   4,    1^41,   ]:r.rrs   \]c\  rnl   r   ^ -icll   wa^   I   : 
C'til'ir  I   •"'!     in  t'.'<  (••r.nty.  J  I  >  {..tli--:.  Jair.*  >  f'Nl«'ll.  v  .'>  :\  - 
^w.'Cf''^' \'-[   i:rv.nv.     l.i\o  >o  m  .ny  of  t''e  pi-  mi n en t  in* ; 
n.'iti  J.     *..:.  J.  A    (  '  ''11  was  HMi'vi  ir   Oao  c.  n'-.t'-y  'p   t'^c    .  • 
far:!.      '.  •  j  lio  Ic  irp':.!   ti«»ni  yn/'^.  tl.c  c--nt'-.l  Ic-*-*  n-*     .* 
T' \  •    '    ."«!:".''.  'r;  .     J  ia\  iri;,  a  ^'-hn!  apc'^^'v.  lie  inlu  "••  ' 
(!  "*.   '        !  a  >  ^':n  i  luli.  '.  in  a  S"-".!i.!  !»'   ! /.     ^ 'n-K  r  '^'  .  .'  p*- 
n  :'•  (.    v.  1<'  'va-  i'ai:i(«l  in  li.-Mt-  <.f  oiflv  ri>.' ^  an*!  a«t!-.  1    . 
I      \'    ,1  h'\'\  \\r  .'   '>a::tn«j''*^  '•!'.'     C't  a  c«>i  r  1  '!i  •-.  li  •••!  » •' 
-\'r.  ■'  '  '•  !!,  1  V  r«    ••.  ct  >'.:;};  'k  *ivc  n>*n   .»n  1  '.      'iiit  (.»f  v-  !'-  ' 
t*    ■'••  '  t  a-'^  f .' .   '^'.  ^^1-  .^cvcop  ■!  tl.Vt  pr."-  Ml!  .^''.'...-it      '  • 
•'..!  t     ti  •  f   -I  r»   :  V"  ..  >v  ••.  j.i.h  ^-.c  lia^  \\.  r-lrl.  a.  !\r\'-  '  • 
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JAMES    ALF.XANDl'U    OI)i:i  L 

MID  u:(*  '.'.lis  .111(1  niouniair^s  of  tlic  oM   N 
"A     Si.nr  lias  j;r)An   up  a   v'-^cnjiis   t\^»e  rf   • 
r<  i^rc-c'.ilMv^    [rr     tl  .\vt  r    «'I     triio     \t    w 
K:.'i<l.  l;.h  Crur.ty,  tii.ii.ms  f<T  frrlilo  fir'  '- 
p'ct'iro?fji;e  1  i'U  and  ri\i*'  xriilf^v^,  has  t:'-f 
our  anninonwoal'h  a  vah:  Me  portion  k  i  > 

C't*/<  lis. 

<''»'!    N'.vciScr  4,    1-^41,    T:ii."*s   Alrx  i'>f!.^r   <  *^\v\\   \va?   l>   :•. 
'.!.r  1  •'.'!>.  in  f  lis  (v.nnty.  ir.>  frithc-r ,  Jan>  .s  r)J,Ml,  v.»s  a  .*  •- 
■!  .*''sm''i1   i;  rvwv.     Like  .so  m  :ny  uf  t''.r  pp 'mi»^fnt  nv,.      f   •' 
n   :i'ii    Mr.  J.  A.  i  )'!cll  was  rc.irtM  in  ti'.c  r-  »:  :tr\    r-   r'*.    <  '•  ' 
.>::\.     lit    J  lu!  I<^  .riv:«l  fi*.ni  vmml!',  tl-c  c  .rMi'il  !o>m  ns      ! 
'  'i.n'Ct  -i"tl  :'^l^^!'y      ILi\iii)^  a  K'^^*'  ii''co>*'\,  lu*  inlur't-  '   ': 
::•!  *.!'V-M  a  ^  "iin-l  inii.  1  in  a  s<"ir..l  !►«   'v.     ^ 'n  :.*r  '^..  /  \  .i'^ 
ifV.(ii:f.  l.r-  'va-  l'a;rn«l  in  lialits  e-f  ciri\  ris  •  l;  aii-l  a*  t!   1    ••. 
i  iv'-»:^  h-'i'l  the  a  IsantaLi^'S  on,     ot  a  c-m  r  1  '!i  -  h*  ►•  •!  '"•**    -  * 
.\!r.  '  )  '*''],  \.y  cr\{,'C*  \\\A\  ac  tive  n-.<M:   .iii  I  ^  ;     '-.'.t  f>f  v     '    !  :•    ' 
'"  '"  hr  .in.^  f  .t--'*^'^'.  ^■'i'*  ':v'*vt''''»;'  .1  ll-  .t  j)r.'-'hal  <m1'  •  .tt      ^  • 
1..I  t  /  ti.o  cMiinr'-t  s''\'\s>  --.l-i  '1  !  c  Ims  v.^  r*'ii,   n  !  .t  v-  '  ■.-.  . 
[:•,'  \v<»rk. 

t  V  h:>  r.wn  p'-*-.-  -nil  p-rf'Ti"  .-e,  h**  I- ^  m  '•♦Tv-V.i  .  '  -  - 
<  t»v'  !^''t  (V  ••^•v  r.MKtncr  vs  <''am  p  ••  \\c.  111  i^/;.  I^i\  •  j 
i»' '.V   r!  «  st  n    r's   v>\'/: ->».,   le   \  -.s    f<r^".na*.'.   ni.rT'   ♦' ♦•    - 


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JAMES  ALEXANDER  ODELL  321 

year,  in  marrying  Miss  Mary  J.  Prescott,  who,  eminent  in  the 
superior  qualities  of  Christian  womanhood,  has  proven  a  uniformly 
excellent  helpmeet. 

In  1868  he  moved  to  High  Point,  North  Carolina,  where  he 
enlarged  his  mercantile  business  by  adding  a  wholesale  depart- 
ment to  the  retail. 

From  High  Point  he  moved  to  Greensboro,  North  Carolina, 
in  1872,  where  he  engaged  in  the  same  business.  Later,  a  hard- 
ware department  was  added,  and  in  1884  ^^^  dry-goods  business 
was  discontinued,  and  the  entire  energies  of  the  business  were 
concentrated  on  hardware  and  kindred  lines,  being  incorporated 
under  its  present  title.  The  Odell  Hardware  Company,  of  which 
he  is  still  president.  This  firm  now  occupies  handsome  and 
commodious  quarters,  and,  it  is  claimed,  transacts  the  largest 
business  of  its  kind  not  only  in  the  State,  but  throughout  the  entire 
Southern  section  of  the  country,  maintaining  the  reputation  for 
reliability  and  standard  goocjs.  Mr.  Odell,  the  founder  of  the 
business,  is  regarded  as  the  pioneer  of  the  wholesale  business  in 
Greensboro. 

Besides  his  long,  successful  career  in  the  mercantile  business, 
Mr.  Odell  is  identified  with,  a  number  of  other  enterprises  that 
contribute  to  the  prosperity  tt  the  toiiimunity.  He  built  the  first 
cotton  mill  that  was  started  in  Dtlrham,  North^Carolina,  in  1884, 
with  which  he  is  still  connected.  He  is  also  interested  in  the 
cotton  mills  at  Concord  and  Bynum,  North  Carolina,  being  vice- 
president  of  the  Odell  Manufacturing  Company  and  a  director  in 
the  Kerr  Bag  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  J.  M.  Odell 
Manufacturing  Company.  He  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Morgan 
and  Hamilton  Company  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  a  director  in  the 
Greensboro  Loan  and  Trust  Company  and  the  Greensboro  Life 
Insurance  Company.  Throughout  his  business  career  he  has 
steadily  won  success  on  solid,  honest  methods  and  principles  with- 
out attempting  nigh-cut  methods  of  getting  something  for 
nothing. 

While  noted  as  a  busy  man,  giving  strict  attention  to  his  private 
affairs,  he  is  also  noted  for  his  public  spirit,  manifested  in  civic. 


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322  NORTH  CAROLINA 

moral,  educational  and  religious  interests.  As  a  citizen  he  is 
loyal  to  the  principles  of  civic  righteousness.  While  a  staunch 
Democrat,  he  is  not  a  blinded  partizan.  Being  wise  enough  to 
see  an  error,  he  is  brave  enough  to  rebuke  it,  whether  in  an  ally 
or  opponent.  Always  standing  firmly  on  the  right  side  of  any 
moral  issue,  he  has  contributed  much  to  the  formation  of  munici- 
pal reform,  of  temperance  and  other  causes  that  make  for  the 
betterment  of  a  community.  When  serving  on  a  jury,  good 
citizens  feel  that  in  him  the  law  will  be  honored  through  a  just 
verdict.  In  the  last  municipal  election  (1905),  when  factions 
threatened  to  increase  amid  complex  conditions,  Mr.  Oddl  was 
worthily  honored  in  being  elected  alderman  by  an  overwhelming 
majority.  In  arranging  for  the  meeting  of  non-resident  citizens 
of  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Odell  is  found  active  in  work  and  liberal 
in  contribution. 

Besides  contributing  of  his  means  to  the  education  of  worthy 
young  people,  he  has  rendered  a  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of 
liberal  education  in  his  contribution  to  institutions  of  learning, 
especially  in  behalf  of  Greensboro  Female  College.  When  this 
time-honored  institution  was  threatened  to  be  sold,  about  1882, 
Mr.  J.  A.  Odell,  with  a  few  other  liberal-spirited  men,  came 
forward  and  assumed  financial  responsibility,  and  established 
the  college  on  a  stronger  basis  than  ever  before,  making  it  the 
leading  college  for  Methodism  in  the  State.  For  over  twenty 
years  his  best  thought  and  effort  were  devoted  to  this  college, 
which  he  loved.  And  when  at  last  conditions  arose  that  broug^ht 
another  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  college,  and  when  the  few 
men  that  had  been  running  the  institution  upon  their  own  re- 
sponsibility felt  that  they  could  assume  such  obligations  no  longer, 
Mr.  Odell  was  not  found  wanting  in  liberal  response  to  the 
appeals  from  Greensboro  Female  College  Alumnae  in  behalf  of 
saving  their  beloved  alma  mater,  being  one  of  the  most  liberal 
contributors  to  this  cause. 

In  the  direct  interests  of  the  church  his  labors  have  also  been 
abundant.  For  more  than  twenty-five  years  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Stewards  of  Greensboro  West  Market  Street 


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JAMES  ALEXANDER  ODELL  323 

Methodist  Church,  a  large  part  of  the  time  serving  as  chairman. 
For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  treasurer  of  the 
joint  Board  of  Finance  of  the  North  Carolina  and  Western  North 
Carolina  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
He  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  this 
church  which  met  in  St.  Louis  in  1890,  to  the  General  Con- 
ference in  Memphis,  1894,  and  in  Dallas,  Texas,  1902.  For  twelve 
years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Book  Conunittee  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  has  devoted  his  characteristic  business  wisdom  and  energy 
in  behalf  of  his  own  local  church.  To  him  much  is  due  in  the 
building  and  equipment  of  Greensboro  West  Market  Street 
Church,  costing  about  $50,000. 

As  the  minister's  friend,  he  advocates  a  liberal  salary  and  com- 
fortable home,  in  due  provision  for  which  he  is  ever  ready  to 
lead  with  liberal  contribution. 

Reverent  for  the  sacred,  he  deprecates  frivolity  without  being 
austere ;  loyal  to  truth,  he  repudiates  shams  without  being  fogy- 
ish;  and  loyal  to  duty,  he  rebukes  unfaithfulness  without  being 
unkind. 

In  his  home  are  blended  substantial  comfort  and  plenty  without 
luxuriousness  and  extravagance,  welcoming  the  friendly  visitor 
with  a  genuine  Southern  hospitality.  Whether  in  private  or  pub- 
lic, he  is  the  same  uniform  character,  esteemed  the  more  by  rich 
and  poor  the  better  he  is  known.  Temperate  and  regular  in 
habits,  he  enjoys  vigorous  health;  systematic  and  punctual  in 
work,  he  "drives  his  business"  instead  of  letting  his  business  drive 
him.  With  a  heroic  spirit,  he  has  not  been  afraid  to  attempt  the 
difficult  work  or  the  solution  of  complex  problems  of  life.  With 
an  honest,  industrious  spirit,  he  has  effectually  attained  unto 
eminence  by  using  simple  means  when  better  could  not  be  had. 
He  has  thus  adapted  himself  to  the  growing,  complex  obligations 
without  a  compromise  of  principle,  and  has  done  plain,  hard  work 
without  a  compromise  of  honor. 

To  the  thoughtful  youth  an  invaluable  principle  is  illustrated  in 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.    Back  of  the  substantial  elements  of 


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324 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


such  character  and  of  the  achievements  of  such  conduct  is  traced 
a  life  begun  aright  when  young.  To  all  thoughtful  minds  the 
corresponding  principle  is  manifested  that,  being  obedient  to  duty, 
he  has  won  that  mastery  of  privilege,  ever  crowning  a  life  with 
the  victory  called  success. 

S.  B.  Turrentine. 


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WILLIAM    ROBERT   ODELL 


[JLLIAM  ROBERT  ODELL  was  born  on  the 
3d  day  of  March,  1855,  in  the  county  of  Ran- 
dolph, North  Carolina.  The  name  of  his  father 
is  John  M.  Odell,  and  the  name  of  his  mother, 
now  dead,  was  Rebecca  C.  Odell.  She  was 
Miss  Kirkman  of  Randolph  County.  His 
father's  marked  characteristics  were  common  sense,  integrity  and 
energy,  and  by  the  exercise  of  these  he  became  and  is  now  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  successful  cotton  manufacturers  of  the  South. 
His  earlier  ancestry  is  given  in  the  sketch  of  his  father  in  this  vol- 
ume. His  physical  conditions  in  childhood  and  youth  were  good, 
and  doubtless  were  much  due  to  fifteen  years  of  country  life  and 
invigorating,  health-giving  farm  work,  which  engaged  the  efforts 
of  his  early  years.  His  mother,  like  his  father,  was  a  person  of 
high  Christian  character,  and  her  influence  was  particularly  strong 
on  the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  her  son.  His  father  was  fully 
able  to  give  him  a  generous  education,  and  therefore  in  this  great 
matter  of  life  he  had  no  financial  difficulties  to  overcome.  He 
was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Concord  High  School,  and  gradu- 
ated with  distinction  from  Trinity  College,  North  Carolina,  in 
1875,  with  the  degree  of  A.B.,  and  he  is  now  and  has  been  for 
years  a  most  efficient  trustee  of  this  great  institution  of  learning. , 

Five  years  after  graduation,  on  the  2Sth  of  May,  1880,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Elizabeth  Sergeant  of  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  a 


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326 NORTH  CAROLINA 

cultured,  Christian  woman.  They  have  in  Concord,  North  Caro- 
lina, one  of  the  handsomest  and  costliest  homes  in  this  State,  and 
they  have  been  blessed  with  three  sons,  all  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing and  one  of  them  is  married.  His  children's  names  accord- 
ing to  age  are  Fred  C,  Ralph  M.,  and  Arthur  G.  Fred  C. 
was  married  to  Miss  Merrimon  of  Greensboro,  North  Carolina, 
on  the  first  day  of  June,  1904 ;  she  was  a  granddaughter  of  Chief 
Justice  Merrimon. 

After  merchandising  for  some  years  in  Concord,  he  began  with 
his  father  the  manufacture  of  cotton  in  Concord  and  elsewhere, 
in  which  he  has  been  eminently  successful.  He  is  now  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  Odell  Manufacturing  Company  at  Bynvan^ 
North  Carolina ;  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Kerr  Bag  Manu- 
facturing Company  at  Concord,  and  director  of  the  Concord 
National  Bank,  in  all  of  which  great  business  institutions  he  is  an 
influential  and  efficient  factor  for  their  prosperity  and  success,  and 
thus  he  is  one  of  the  South's  "great  captains  of  industry." 

And  with  all  of  these  great  works  engaging  his  attention  and[ 
honest  care,  he  has  found  time  to  be  for  years  an  active  school 
committeeman  for  the  graded  schools  of  Concord,  which  arc 
among  the  very  best  in  all  respects  in  North  Carolina;  to  be  a 
commissioner  for  the  city  of  Concord,  and  is  prominent  in  the 
administration  of  our  city  government,  and  is  now  also  State 
senator  from  Cabarrus  and  Mecklenburg  counties,  one  of  the 
most  important  senatorial  districts  in  North  Carolina,  and  one 
without  a  superior  in  its  moral,  intellectual  and  financial  force  in 
this  State.  Thus  verifying  the  old  saying:  "If  you  want  any- 
thing well  done,  ask  a  busy  man  to  do  it.*' 

He  was  a  prominent  and  influential  Senator  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  and  committee  work  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1905, 
and  he  was  a  forceful  factor  in  the  passage  of  the  law  for  increas- 
ing the  pensions  of  Confederate  soldiers,  chapters  358  and  408  of 
the  Public  Laws  of  1905,  of  which  two  acts  he  was  the  author, 
and  in  the  passage  of  the  law  "To  prevent  the  dealing  in  futures" 
in  this  State,  chapter  358  of  Public  Laws  of  1905.  And  I  think 
it  can  be  safely  said  that  this  latter  act  would  not  have  passed  the 


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WILLIAM  ROBERT  ODELL  327 

Senate  but  for  his  influence  and  his  speech  in  its  favor  in  the 
Senate  Chamber.  And  this  is  much  to  his  credit  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  this  act  was  fiercely  fought  by  many  large  cotton  manu- 
facturers in  Mecklenburg  and  other  counties  of  this  section  of 
North  Carolina. 

Its  enactment  was  greatly  needed  and  is  very  beneficial  in  this 
State,  where  the  "Bucket  Shops"  as  local  places  for  selling  futures 
are  called  were  working  havoc  with  the  morals  and  money  of 
young  North  Carolinians. 

Senator  Odell  also  introduced  a  bill  to  reduce  the  poll  tax  in 
North  Carolina,  but  it  failed  to  become  a  law  for  want  of  time 
more  than  any  other  cause. 

From  early  life  Mr.  Odell  has  been  a  pious  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  is  now  and  has  been  for  six- 
teen years  a  member  of  the  Forest  Hill  Church  in  Concord,  and  for 
some  length  of  time  has  been  superintendent  of  its  Sunday-school, 
and  in  all  his  relations  of  life  he  is  a  worthy  member  of  this 
great  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ  on  earth. 

For  the  strengthening  of  sound  ideals  and  to  help  young  people 
to  attain  true  success  in  life,  he  earnestly  commends  faithfulness 
to  every  duty,  great  or  small,  integrity,  energy  and  perseverance. 

Paul  B.  Means. 


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SAMUEL   FIN  LEY    PATTERSON 

[EW  families  have  held  so  high  a  place  in  the 
respect  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  as  the 
Patterson  connection.  The  first  member  of  this 
family  to  come  to  America  emigrated  from  the 
north  of  Ireland  early  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  after  a  sojourn  in  Pennsylvania  made  a 
home  for  himseff  in  Virginia,  where  many  of  his  descendants  are 
still  found.  There,  in  Rockbridge  County,  on  March  ii,  1799, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  bom.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was 
induced  by  his  uncle,  Major  John  Finley,  to  remove  to  Wilkes- 
boro,  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  the 
store  of  Waugh  &  Finley  until  he  attained  his  majority  in  1821. 
He  was  a  young  man  of  superior  intelligence  and  fine  address, 
and  being  inclined  to  mingle  more  with  the  men  of  the  State,  the 
next  year,  when  but  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  sought  the 
position  of  engrossing  clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  for 
fourteen  years  he  was  annually  elected  to  some  clerkship  in  the 
legislature,  filling  each  in  turn  until  at  length,  in  1835,  he  became 
chief  clerk  of  the  Senate.  In  the  meantime,  in  May,  1824,  he  was 
happily  married  to  Phebe  Caroline,  a  daughter  of  General  Edmond 
Jones,  and  a  granddaughter  of  General  William  Lenoir;  and  by 
this  connection  he  became  closely  associated  with  some  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  State. 

In  1828  and  1829  he  was  Junior  Grand  Warden  of  the  Grand 


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Jk^A     r:i**«'!.-»:i  v(.»;rr.e''ti<'Ti.    'I'li  •  :  >♦  • 
tiS     taiiiilv  t-.  C'-nu   to  An  ori^.i  «r 
n<'>rt!i  of  ]r'  l:ind  cirh  :i.  t';-  t    . 
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jiAiiie  n^r  lum^-.-i:'  in  \  ii  J'na,  wI.tc  ni.'iiv  cf  l.*- 
t'":!   1  ■    '1.      ; 'I'-'T'.  '.1   k. • -kijri'lj'!  C^^ri'l;.,  <  »■     » 
t'  0  -'  "  :  r.'s  si-.":«  1.  ^\as  bom.    At  li'L-  . . 

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sami:i:l  finlev  i\vrp:K- 

€S*'lJf^'I^.^>?l:-\V  i  uvUi-f.  h.-.vc  h.i.i  so  Ii.;'-  .' 

VVriri^^'^   j,,,„.,-t  .1  ti.o  po.picf  >:..r.h  • 

C"  A       T^       *^^     r.'itii  r-i-i  vt»jnccti«)Ti.    'Hk- t-r-^  •* 

(y  >.       A  *^  0)    taimlv  I"  C'.nu*  to  AnioriL.i  vr..*^- 

^    j\v- ^  ^k"^    n«'»rt!i  of  Ti'  Lin-l  oariv  ih  l..<  i  •  .' 

C     ^^V     ^    ^/^  ,      -  .         ■  , 

i"!   hie  \oT  i.iJ!i>.--ii  in  \  ir  .i'  ia,  \v]i«-re  n;  r.y  cf  lii- 
.ti.l    f  .•:-!.!.       1 'i'..'ro.   ii   k«  ■ -hi^ri'lc'"^  (^••ri't'.,  «  ti    ?v 
t'^<*  -1  '    r.  *  ,  t  r."^  sk".<  i.  was  h'jrn.    At  '.lit  -.^" 
iiifl'i'.  ^'    •      i   •>  r.iK  Ic,  y.  .i  )!*  J./iii  Fiiiit ; .  1  >  Ft 
.  »'.tr^;irw'\   ^.L-r*-  he  was  (.'i'^.-  < «!  a 
.   '^  1  v^  ^  *rii  'V  iipii-  lu   a^'  -i"'.  '  '  •-  r 
-  a        •'  ./  rr'ii  ^^f  s;i;»<.ri(.r  irv.-"  ^  ■  mih*  ':' 
.  ^  'u  *"•.,  1  t-:»  f.p:   J  •  ir.'.rc  \\K*'  t.M*  r   .p. 

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^  f.f  (•    •      'si'  .r  :\\,^  r,i  t'if-   H"'.  ♦    of  V    • 
n   •     1'  ^  ^v-   ■.'  -IS  ^,n'  1  .,Iiv'  t'l    •*.•»!  •      «••  :ti, 

•  •.:.''"  ^  •  .V 1    in  t'^TM  ':i    il  a*  .«.•'.! 

•  .      •  •"•  •    S'  .1  '*•       In  tilt.  M.t  .-.t  .J,.,     jj,  \' 


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THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  UBRARY 

A?^OR,  LENOX  A.ND 
TILULN  P0*JMX>ATtONa 


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SAMUEL  FINLEY  PATTERSON  329 

Lodge  of  Masons  of  the  State,  and  in  1830  and  1831  Deputy 
Grand  Master;  in  1833  and  1834  he  was  Grand  Master,  and  no 
one  in  the  State  was  more  highly  esteemed  by  his  fellow-Masons. 
His  career  had  been  one  of  unvaried  success  and  good  fortune. 
His  association  with  the  public  men  who  during  the  fifteen  years 
of  his  connection  with  the  legislature  had  been  members  of  the 
General  Assembly  had  won  for  him  their  confidence  and  esteem, 
and  his  promptness,  fidelity  and  integrity  had  made  a  most  favor- 
able impression  throughout  the  State.  Having  begun  business 
on  his  own  account  upon  leaving  the  employment  of  his  uncle, 
he  had  so  successfully  managed  his  affairs  that  he  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  an  excellent  financier  and  business  man.  At 
the  General  Assembly  of  1835,  although  he  was  a  strong  opponent 
of  the  policies  of  General  Jackson,  and  the  legislature  was  largely 
composed  of  the  friends  of  General  Jackson,  he  was  eletted  public 
treasurer  of  the  State,  succeeding  WiUidm  S.  Mhoon.  He  held 
this  position  for  two  years,  a'  part* 'of  the  same  timie  likewise 
discharging  the  duties  of  president  6!  Ihje  .Bank,  of -the  •State,  and 
adding  to  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  best  financiers  of  North 
Carolina.  But  in  1837  he  retired  from  office  and  returned  to  his 
business  in  Wilkesboro. 

In  1840,  three  days  in  June  had  been  devoted  to  festivities 
celebrating  the  completion  of  the  Capitol  and  of  the  Raleigh  and 
Gaston  Railroad,  and  in  that  year  Mr.  Patterson,  who  was  an 
early  promoter  of  internal  improvements  and  an  able  financier, 
was  elected  president  of  that,  the  first  railroad  completed  in  the 
State,  and  he  moved  to  Raleigh  so  as  to  discharge  the  duties  of 
that  office.  In  1845,  however,  his  father-in-law,  General  Jones, 
died,  and  Mr.  Patterson  resigned  his  position  as  president  of  the 
Railroad  Company  and  returned  to  the  Yadkin  Valley,  intending 
to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  his  farming  interests. 
Largely  through  his  influence,  in  1841,  Caldwell  County  had  been 
erected  out  of  portions  of  Burke  and  Wilkes,  and  Mr.  Patterson's 
home,  known  as  "Palmyra,"  was  in  the  new  county.  Immedi- 
ately on  his  return  to  Caldwell  County  he  was  elected  chairman 
of  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions,  having  the  manage- 


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330  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ment  of  all  the  internal  affairs  of  the  county,  and  he  held  this 
office  until  the  old  system  of  county  courts  was  abolished  by  the 
constitution  of  1868. 

The  next  year,  1846,  he  was  chosen  to  represent  his  county 
in  the  Senate,  and  was  again  elected  in  1848. 

At  that  time  the  affairs  of  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad 
had  become  hopelessly  embarrassed.  There  was  not  business 
enough  or  sufficient  earnings  to  pay  the  running  expenses.  Gov- 
ernor Graham,  Mr.  Patterson  and  the  other  friends  of  internal 
improvements  were  greatly  discouraged,  and  recognized  that  some 
great  effort  should  be  made  to  sustain  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston 
Railroad  by  constructing  an  interior  line  that  would  serve  as  a 
feeder  to  it  and  give  it  a  greater  volume  of  business,  while  at  the 
same  time  affording  needed  facilities  to  other  parts  of  the  State. 
Mr.  Patterson,  who  was  among  the  foremost  of  those  who  advo- 
cated internal  improvements,  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Internal  Improvements,  and  drew  a  bill  proposing  to  charter  a 
road  from  Raleigh  to  Salisbury,  and  giving  some  State  aid  to  it. 
This  measure,  however,  did  not  receive  sufficient  favor  to  secure 
its  passage.  The  friends  of  internal  improvements,  then  the  most 
important  matter  in  the  public  mind,  were  almost  in  despair. 
Mr.  William  S.  Ashe,  senator  from  New  Hanover,  and  a  Democrat 
who  differed  with  his  party  friends  on  this  particular  subject,  was 
appealed  to  to  prepare  another  bill.  He  did  so,  proposing  to  in- 
corporate a  road  from  Goldsboro  to  Charlotte,  and  appropriating 
$2,000,000  as  State  aid.  At  first  the  magnitude  of  this  work  and 
the  great  amount  of  money  appropriated  staggered  even  the  most 
ardent  of  the  advocates  of  internal  improvements ;  but  eventually 
that  bill  was  substituted  for  the  one  proposed  by  the  Committee 
on  Internal  Improvements  and  was  passed  by  the  casting  vote  of 
the  speaker  of  the  Senate.  As  Mr.  Dudley  was  the  leader  of 
internal  improvements  in  the  east,  so  in  like  manner  is  the  west 
indebted  to  Mr.  Patterson  for  his  efforts  to  promote  the  inter- 
ests of  the  western  part  of  the  State  in  that  respect. 

In  1854  he  again  served  his  people  in  the  legislature,  being  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  during  the  war,  in  1864, 


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SAMUEL  FINLEY  PATTERSON  331 

he  was  for  a  third  time  elected  to  the  Senate.  After  the  restora- 
tion of  peace,  a  convention  was  elected  in  October,  1865,  and  in 
1866,  there  being  a  vacancy  in  that  body  from  Caldwell  County, 
he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  that  convention.  In  the  same  year 
he  attended  what  was  known  as  the  Philadelphia  Peace  Conven- 
tion as  one  of  the  delegates  from  North  Carolina,  the  object  in 
view  being  to  establish  fraternal  relations  between  the  sections 
of  the  Union  and  to  restore  harmony  and  good  will  among  the 
people.  This  convention  was  presided  over  by  Reverdy  Johnson 
of  Maryland,  and  was  largely  attended  by  delegates  from  the  New 
England  States ;  and  while  it  had  some  effect  in  staying  the  hands 
of  the  irreconcilables  in  Congress  for  a  time,  it  did  not  entirely 
defeat  their  will  and  purposes,  and  the  next  year  the  Reconstruc- 
tion Acts,  destroying  the  .State  governments  at  the  South  and 
establishing  new  State  governments  on  the  fundamental  basis  o£ 
negro  suffrage,  were  passed. 

In  1868  General  Patterson  was  nominated  on  the  State  ticket 
by  the  Conservative  Party  for  the  office  of  superintendent  of 
public  works,  a  new  position  established  by  the  constitution  o£ 
1868.  But  he  and  his  party  at  that  election  went  down  in  hope- 
less defeat,  the  only  defeat,  such  as  it  was,  that  he  ever  met  before 
the  people.  Among  the  less  important  places  that  Mr.  Patterson 
held  during  his  long  career  of  public  activity  was  that  of  clerk 
of  the  Superior  Court  and  clerk  and  master  in  equity;  in  1839  he 
was  Indian  commissioner ;  he  was  also  elected  by  the  legislature 
brigadier-general  and  afterward  major-general  of  the  State  militia, 
and  he  thus  became  entitled  to  be  known  as  General  Patterson. 

For  many  years  he  was  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  a  trustee  of 
the  State  University  for  a  third  of  a  century. 

General  Patterson  was  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  for  many  years  was  vestryman,  warden  and  lay 
reader  of  his  parish  church;  and  in  1871  he  was  one  of  the  lay 
delegates  from  the  diocesan  convention  of  this  State  to  the  gen- 
eral convention  held  in  Baltimore. 

Such  is  the  succinct  record  of  his  public  life. 

Beginning  as  a  clerk  in  the  legislature  of  1821,  there  was  not 


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332  NORTH  CAROLINA 

a  year  for  half  a  century  in  which  he  was  not  honored  by  the 
State  of  his  adoption  until,  after  fifty  years  of  continuous  service^ 
he  fitly  closed  his  career  by  representing  her  in  the  grand  council 
of  the  church  he  loved.  What  man  in  the  State  has  ever  lived 
a  busier,  more  useful,  purer  life?  Who,  having  so  many  and  great 
trusts  confided  in  him,  has  fulfilled  them  more  worthily  ?  He  never 
sought  any  civil  office  which  would  withdraw  him  from  North 
Carolina.  His  history,  together  with  the  history  of  a  few  of  his 
peers  and  associates,  was  for  many  years  the  history  of  the  State. 
Such  men,  so  strong  in  mind  and  body,  so  pure  in  heart  and  hand, 
so  steady,  so  resolute  and  so  wise,  during  half  a  century  of  use- 
fulness, influenced  insensibly  to  themselves  thousands  whom  they 
met  and  thousands  more  who  honored  them  because  of  their  acts. 
The  study  of  his  character  and  the  character  of  men  like  him, 
who  controlled  the  destiny  of  North  Carolina  in  times  past,  will 
show  something  of  the  reason  why  the  State  has  been  so  little 
known  abroad,  so  loved  and  reverenced  at  home. 

They  were  like  those  Romans,  spoken  of  by  Sallust,  who  lived 
in  the  nobler  days  of  the  Republic,  who  would  rather  do  great 
deeds  than  write  about  them — a  people  among  whom  the  wisest 
were  also  the  busiest  citizens,  and  who,  disdaining  to  cultivate 
their  minds  at  the  expense  of  their  bodies,  so  used  both  as  to 
accomplish  the  greatest  good  to  the  commonwealth.  General 
Patterson,  although  he  held  so  many  and  various  offices,  and  gave 
so  much  time  and  attention  to  public  affairs,  was  for  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  life  properly  a  farmer.  By  this  pursuit  he  supported 
himself  while  he  served  the  people.  His  farm  was  a  model  of 
neatness  and  thrift ;  he  was  zealous  in  introducing  new  seeds,  im- 
proved implements  and  better  methods  of  cultivation;  he  was  a 
constant  reader  and  frequent  contributor  to  the  columns  of  agri- 
cultural journals,  and  was  justly  regarded  as  an  authority  in 
matters  pertaining  to  husbandry.  His  domestic  life  was  as  even, 
as  useful  and  as  pure  as  his  public  life. 

His  home  was  attractive,  and  in  the  company  of  his  wife  and 
two  sons,  Rufus  L,  Patterson  and  Samuel  L.  Patterson,  he  was 
entirely  happy ;  but  being  given  to  hospitality,  he  rejoiced  at  the 


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SAMUEL  FINLEY  PATTERSON 


333 


presence  of  many  guests.  No  one  who  was  ever  a  guest  at  "Pal- 
myra" can  forget  the  stately  figure  which  welcomed  him  or  bade 
good-by  with  such  kindly,  heartfelt  courtesy.  Nor  was  his  gen- 
erosity confined  to  his  own  premises ;  many  a  poor  neighbor,  both 
white  and  black,  lamented  the  death  of  the  dear  friend  who  never 
forgot  either  their  necessity  or  their  self-respect,  and  gave  as 
delicately  as  wisely. 

He  died  at  his  home,  January  20,  1874,  as  peacefully  as  he  had 
lived. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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RUFUS   LENOIR   PATTERSON 

[he  subject  of  this  sketch  was  of  a  lineage  emi- 
ment  not  only  for  services  to  their  State,  but  for 
their  talents  and  virtues.  His  father,  General 
Samuel  Finley  Patterson,  had  a  peculiar,  com- 
manding dignity,  self-poise  and  sound  sense. 
No  man  excelled  him  in  good  influences  amid 
all  his  surroundings.  We  find  him  representing  his  county  in 
both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  charge  of  the  State 
treasury.  President  of  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad  in  its  in- 
fancy, a  trustee  of  the  State  University  for  a  third  of  a  century, 
serving  for  much  of  his  term  as  a  member  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, which  is  the  real  governing  power  of  the  institution.  He 
was  descended  from  sturdy  Scotch-Irish  settlers,  who  came  from 
Pennsylvania  through  Virginia,  and  who  gave  to  the  South  such 
warriors  and  statesmen  as  Stonewall  Jackson,  John  C.  Calhoun, 
President  Jackson,  William  A.  Graham,  William  R.  Davie  and 
others  like  them. 

The  mother  of  Rufus  Patterson  possessed  the  virtues  and 
graces  of  forebears  distinguished  in  our  annals.  Her  father  was 
Edmond  Jones,  a  leading  spirit  in  Wilkes  County,  then  of  great 
extent,  for  years  a  member  as  senator  or  representative  in  the 
State  Legislature.  After  his  death,  his  son,  Edmund  W.,  took 
his  place  in  the  public  regard  and  was  similarly  trusted  and  hon- 
ored, one  of  the  most  knightly  men  of  his  day.    Mrs.  Patterson's 


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^ 


^1 


X        ■■^<'.     r   r/r.        . 


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R L' I-  L' S    L  1{ N () I R    1 ' ATT  1  •. R S<'- ) N 


t^j'^^y^ir^^il  i  H-  ^I'.i'j'H^t  of  tlvis  sketch  \v;is  of  a  linen.,  •  •  •  - 
nicit  not  only  ior  scrvi^xs  I"  tlWr  State,  Uifl'fnf 
tluir  talents  and  virtnei.  lli.s  father,  CcoersJ 
Dannie!  Finlev  Patterson,  ha<l  a  pfmitiATt 
jT -^'r*'CL|^  >^ "^J/  n'in<ii:i.^^  (l'i,nit>.  self-[)oi>e  ;tit*]  fou^d 
ij^J>'c><S^4[  X(»  man  cxeelled  Irni  in  t^ooj  iftrlu&iceft  ABSid 
aj!  his  siirr'^  n  iLivjs.  \W  find  him  rejiresentin^;  hiji  county  in 
h  '.h  hrar.il. c-  of  tl^;  (jem.ral  A-«;enihly,  in  charge  rvf  llie  StAle 
tre.i^  r\,  I'...  >i.lent  of  the  T\  ileii;h  and  Gavr^n  Kailr'^d  in  Jti  in* 
f'  ':-  \.  a  r  !-;t«e  of  th'^  State  Univcrs-ty  fur  a  tl^-r  1  ui  A  ceattiry^ 
sii  .51  .-  ;  •  n:Uv.di  of  h\>  term  as  a  meniher  'M  th-  xrruuve  Coin- 
Ti.i.i  i  h  is  the  real  ;;o\err 'nL,*-  jM-wer  « -f  tliL  m3>littitkm.     He 

wa-^  •''•"••' -I'-d  from  sturdy  Scotcli-Irish  ^etller^  who  cinie  fnws 
T' r.i  ;  >:"ii.«  Oiror^.h  X'i^-^^^'nia,  and  '\ho  ^a\c  t  )ie  S<}tith  ffodb. 
\varr».'r>  an  1  sta'e^men  as  S:<")riv\v.Jl  Jack-'m.  J.-hn  Q  OJhottn. 
I'reMdmt  J  lol  ^^u.  William  A.  Giah:.m,  Will.:--  It  Davie  and 
olh.rs  like  th."m. 

T\  0   nvtluT   r-i    K'lfns    Patters.'n    f^os^tcvf-i    tVo    vi:*i-e>    :.-  i 
LTac'-s  of  f  .rehe^'.rs  (h^t:T]':::n^lv  .1  \i\  •  nr  anna!.-.     I!  -r  f '/l.-T   . 
ii'!  i^'iid  Jones,  a  I'M  iini^  spirit  in  Will  e>  C'-  'r>t>,  th«  :.  (-^ 
r-t.Mt,   fr»r   \ea*s  a   t:^cm'» -r  as  ^e'Ult«^'■  i'»r   i   :  t^-m  n'  /  •'     r 
''•    *.'   I.' I'M.tM'.-e       \i\ir  his  (h  ith..  Ir.s  s  mi.   h''h''m'.d  \V..  t 
:    '  I  '  i«'e  in  tl'<    \>r.]  lie  reL::.rd  <tnd  v.  t-  si^'iil  irly  tni-i*!  a'-  1       •  - 
'    .--.e  ■  '  t'a.  m.  ^t  knxl-.i'y  n-en  of  h.is  d  ly.     Mrs.  I'.:..-        -^ 


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^^^o^«  o^i 


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all   his  siirrr)aii; 


Rl  rUS    LENOIR    PATTl-RSON 

ill-.  .snl.i'Tt  of  tlvis  sketch  \v;i>  i  a  liAOgr  rmi- 
nioMt  not  only  for  scrviois  Ic  lliinr  StAtf*^  haf  fof 
ihc'w  talents  and  virtn«'>.  Mi^  fatJief.,  C^kCJ^l 
Samuel  Finlev  Tatlerson,  liaO  a  peCtiltor,  com- 
nMiKhnir  (liu^nity.  self-[)<'ise  anc!  Kmnd  tettte. 
Xu  man  excelled  Iiim  in  ^(«#«l  ifilttjetK€S  amid 
:^L^s.  We  Inul  liiin  representing  hi*  countJT  in 
b"th  hranehes  of  tin!  General  A-srniMy,  in  cliafRC  of  ibc  Stale 
tiea^r  V.  rre^i-lent  of  the  K  ile'i;h  and  (lasion  |{ailrmtl  in  il»  m^ 
f.'i'.y.  a  tni-t^e  of  tli^  State  l/nivcrsity  for  a  t'linl  of  a  oeilllliy* 
<k\\u>'j  \  »!  nuioh  of  l;is  term  as  a  m<-!:dHT  of  the  Kxetulite  Cofn- 
Ti.iit  •.  wi.iih  is  the  real  i^cAerrin^:^  jM«uer  . -f  t|iL-  irulittrtion.  He 
wa>  'le-en-l'-d  f  r- »ni  sturdy  Scotch-Iri.^1-  >'*riierji,  v^hct  cain^  from 
T'lii^  y  vai'ia  Uu-oul;1i  \'ir;:;'nia,  and  'aIio  i;a\c  lo  the  ScK^th  nich 
\varr»\>rs  and  sta!es'nen  as  Slon-.w.dl  Javk^'/u,  Juhn  C*  CillldciD. 
TresidtTU  ]\c\  ^m,  \\  i'.hain  A.  (iiaham,  \\'illi^*ij!  I<.  Davie 
othjrs  like  th'Mn. 

The   in^aher   oi    Rufus    ratters«»n    [»o>^e>ved    t^  c    \i'*rc^ 
iTac'-s  r)f  f  .re!>ears  di^tin^^^uislu  .1  \n  our  anna!^.     F  -i   f  i'h'T 
L'!  n  -rid  J'>nes.  a  l"a  Ww.x  spirit  in  \'v'ill  e^  C-  ".Mf, ,  t'^   i  c  t 
t'xttnt,   for   \wi:s  a   n^«  mlvr  a-^  seu.dor  or   i   i  T'. -(••;' it*    .     »» 
St-te   L' -isl  itu-e.      MUT  his  «K  ith.  his  s  >n.   hM- vT'i   \V..  t 
Ills  I  !  lee  in  ire  j/^iMic  reLT.'.rd  and  \\'"=  >i^'iikirly  t'r.-tel    .^"  ! 
o:ed.  (  :.c  <■'  tl.c  uk  -t  kn'i;l:t!\  nnn  of  h.;..  d  ly.     Mrs    P.'.-' 


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RUia\S    LENOIR    PATTl^RSON 

ill-.  snl)joct  of  this  skcicli  w  .ai  A  lineage  etni- 
UK'ui  not  only  ft)r  services  t-  Uirir  Stale,  bdffcr 
tb.tir  talents  an<l  virMio.  \h%  father,  Cctienl 
Sanuu'l  rinlcy  Patterson,  K;iJ  a  pecuUar. 
nMn(li:i,;j:  (l!i;7iit\.  self-[M»isf  sinrl  icmrtJ 
Xi'  man  exoeilcd  \vm  in  j^tio4  influaicf^  amid 
all  his  siirrnjniliPL'^.  W^^  lind  liini  reproscfinng  hi*  COitllfY  in 
l>i»ih  hranciic*;  of  thi:  (loniral  Ays^.uihly,  in  d\,irg^  of  ihc  Stmtc 
tKMs.i!).  rrc-i'Icnt  of  the  T\aie'L;h  and  Ciaston  Hajiniad  in  ill  lo* 
f:  !/>%.  a  :r'!^tie  of  th^  State  University  fur  <t  ^liird  of  m  ccnitiry. 
^<\.\].'j  !•  1  nuich  of  his  term  as  a  mernlHT  .tf  the  Kicetnittve  Com* 
n.irt  .■.  ui.iih  is  the  real  ;:o\<Tr  in^^  jM-uer  . -f  tIu'  institUtJCm,  He 
v\a>  'lew-n.l''(l  fr»:n  sturdy  S.^otcli-Iri^l  S'tiicr**,  who  Cime  Irom 
T' nn  y  va?'i-«  ^h.roiv^h  \'ir;:,^"nia,  and  'sho  [;a\*J  !u  ihc  Sotlth  Mch 
\varr'\-rs  an  1  sta'esuien  as  Stonewall  JaeV>M>i,  JijHo  C*  CltboOfl« 
I're.^idKnt  J  irl  -on,  William  A.  Giaham,  W'  'L|»tn  H.  Davic  MSA 
oiluTS  like  th'Ti. 

T\  0   m.  ther   oi    Knfiis    Patters. >n    [>o>..(.'Cs.  1   |he    virtno   so4 


*s  of  f  'rehears  d:*>t:n'::^'^iNh' »i  ni  «  i:r  anna' 


Ihr   fi''.T 


Ld*n<'nd  J'-nes.  a  Km  Hr/.:^  hj>int  in  Will  es  C'  ii'tt;. ,  t!^*   i  «  ♦ 
extent,   for  \ea:s  a   t  ^en^h.T  a^   sen.itor  i»r   r   T^'t^tn-.t  • 
Sf^.t'.   P«  prsi  iti'.-e.     Aftir  h.is  dt  it'\  his  s  ni.   h'.!".''.'id  W'.. 
h.is  \\wc  in  ir.e  {;::hhc  regard  and  \s.*>  >i':iil.iriy  fi.-l  •  I    .'-.  1 
o' {.•.!.  c'liC  .  *  t'a.  m«  >t  kn-'i-l  Ov  n'ui  of  his  di»'.     Mr.s.  P.\. 


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^^L^^^Z^ 


4L,O^X 


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THE  NEW  YORf 
^^BLIC  LIBRARY 

^"■•'  "     LENOX  AND 


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RUFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON  33S 

mother  was  a  daughter  of  General  William  Lenoir,  one  of  the 
great  men  of  our  State,  eminent  in  war  and  in  peace,  in  public 
service  and  in  neighborhood  circles.  He  was  in  the  arduous  ex- 
pedition of  Rutherford,  which  crushed  the  hostile  power  of  the 
Cherokees.  He  was  wounded  in  the  daring  assault  up  Kink's 
Mountain  when  Ferguson's  force  was  captured.  After  the  war 
for  many  years  he  was  major-general  of  the  militia,  when  efficient 
organization  and  discipline  were  maintained ;  an  active  member  of 
the  Constitutional  Conventions  of  1788  and  1789,  opposing  the 
Federal  Constitution  unless  with  amendments  clearly  safe-guard- 
ing the  rights  of  the  States;  long  a  trusted  commoner  and  sen- 
ator in  our  State  legislatures ;  elevated  to  the  office  of  president  of 
the  Senate,  then  second  only  in  honor  to  that  of  governor ;  one  of 
the  exalted  men  named  as  charter  members  of  the  University. 
He  had  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  president  -of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  and  went  to  his  grave  in  1838  the.  l^ist  survivor  of 
his  colleagues.  The  appreciation  of  his  merits  by  Ihe  public  is 
shown  by  his  name  being  given  to  an  eastern  county  and  a  western 
town.  His  family  was  Huguenot,  settling  first  in  Edgecombe  and 
thence  moving  to  the  fair  valley  of  the  upper  Yadkin, 

There  is  a  theory  that  poor  lands  pull  dowji  the  character  of 
its  cultivators,  and  that  rich  lands  produce  not  only  abundant 
crops  of  well-filled  grain,  but  strong,  handsome  and  intelligent 
men  and  women.  Not  stopping  to  deny  or  acquiesce  in  this,  I  state 
as  a  fact  that  the  lovely  and  fertile  country  through  which  flows 
the  upper  Yadkin  and  its  tributaries  has  been  for  years  the  home 
of  a  prosperous,  high-toned  and  harmonious  people.  In  that  part 
of  it  designated  by  admiring  visitors  as  the  Happy  Valley,  on  a 
farm  called  Palmyra,  the  valley  containing  the  ancient  homes  of 
his  Lenoir  and  Jones  ancestors,  in  a  refined  and  cultivated  neigh- 
borhood, to  be  nurtured  by  parents  who  had  good  principles  in 
their  hearts  and  a  sufficiency  of  worldly  goods  to  give  their  son 
the  best  advantages,  on  the  22d  of  June,  1830,  was  bom  Rufus 
Lenoir  Patterson.  His  life  began  with  the  modern  railroad  sys- 
tem in  America. 

The  boy  was  not  destined  to  grow  up  amid  his  beautiful,  rustic 


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336  NORTH  CAROLINA 

surroundings.  When  he  was  five  years  old  his  father,  elected 
State  treasurer,  made  Raleigh  his  home,  as  required  by  law, 
spending  much  of  his  summers,  however,  in  the  Happy  Valley. 
After  leaving  this  office  he  was  for  several  years  president  of  the 
Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad  Company,  and  continued  his  dual 
residence.  But  while  the  boy  thus  gained  in  knowledge  of  the 
world,  he  lost  in  advancement  in  scholarship,  missing  the  last  days 
of  the  spring  terms  and  the  early  days  of  the  fall  terms  of  his 
Raleigh  schools.  By  his  attention  to  duties,  nevertheless,  he  was 
a  favorite  with  his  teachers,  John  Y.  Hicks  and  Silas  Bigelow,  of 
the  Raleigh  Academy. 

About  1845  his  father  gave  up  his  Raleigh  residence  and  lived 
permanently  on  his  farm  on  the  Yadkin.  Rufus  entered  the 
school  of  Rev.  T.  S.  W.  Mott,  a  scholarly  Episcopal  minister,  who 
taught  near  the  county  seat  of  Caldwell,  by  whom  he  was  pre- 
pared for  the  State  University. 

He  entered  the  State  University  in  1847,  ^  y^r  notable  in  its 
annals  for  the  visit  of  President  Polk,  a  graduate  of  1818.  His 
inclination  led  him  to  seek  superiority  in  the  hall  of  his  societ>% 
the  Dialectic,  and  among  the  students  at  large,  rather  than  in  the 
study  of  text  books.  The  most  treasured  prize  in  his  day  was 
the  marshalship.  This  officer  was  elected  by  universal  suffrage 
out  of  the  junior  class.  In  order  to  aid  him  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  he  was  privileged  to  select  six  sub-marshals,  or  "subs," 
equally  divided  between  the  two  societies.  Arrayed  in  costly 
regalia  of  blue  ribbon  and  white,  bespangled  with  gold  and  silver, 
meeting  on  spirited  horses,  the  band  when  it  reached  the  east- 
em  boundary  of  the  village  escorted  it  in  grand  procession 
through  the  streets,  while  the  brazen-throated  instruments  dis- 
coursed martial  music;  on  another  day  heading  a  column  com- 
posed of  the  governor  and  other  distinguished  visitors,  faculty 
and  students,  as  they  marched  through  the  campus,  he  was  a 
great  man  of  a  great  occasion,  the  general-in-chief  of  the  com- 
mencement. The  duties  required  knowledge  of  men,  graceful  man- 
ners, a  commanding  person,  sound  judgment,  presence  of  mind. 
It  is  an  evidence  of  the  inborn  capacity  of  our  people  for  self- 


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RUFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON  337 

government  that  our  students,  the  members  of  the  lower  classes 
being  in  the  majority,  never  failed  to  select  a  well-fitted  man. 

In  1850  Rufus  Patterson  was  elected  to  this  highest  office  in 
the  microcosm  of  the  University  with  no  serious  opposition.  Well 
did  he  redeem  the  confidence  of  the  students,  who  so  enthusiasti- 
cally nominated  him,  and  of  the  faculty  and  trustees  who  approved 
the  nomination.    He  performed  his  functions  with  signal  ability. 

While  at  the  University  he  was  surprised  by  a  family  incident 
of  surprising  interest.  For  twenty  years  he  had  been  an  only 
child,  whom  his  father  and  mother,  howbeit  wiser  than  is  usual 
with  parents  in  like  condition,  could  not  help  petting,  though  not 
spoiling.  So  it  happened  that  another  son  was  bom  to  gladden 
their  hearts  and  to  divide  their  interest.  The  friends  of  Rufus 
looked  curiously  for  any  evidence  of  disappointment.  So  far  from 
it  he  rejoiced  heartily  at  the  arrival  of  the  little  stranger,  and  was 
especially  loving  to  his  new  brother.  The  boy  grew  up  to  possess 
the  virtues  of  his  race,  and  is  now  the  trusted  and  sagacious  com- 
missioner of  agriculture,  Samuel  Legerwood  Patterson. 

In  1851  Rufus  Patterson  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 
The  demands  on  his  time  consequent  on  his  popularity  did  not 
allow  him  to  obtain  a  class  honor  in  his  studies,  and  under  the 
rule  of  the  Faculty  he  was  not  a  speaker  on  the  stage,  but  there 
was  no  senior  who  surpassed  him  in  the  regard  of  Faculty  and 
students  as  a  high-toned,  large-hearted  and  intelligent  young  man. 

As  a  finishing  to  his  education,  he  studied  law  under  the  very 
able  John  A.  Gilmer,  the  elder.  He  did  not,  however,  attend  the 
courts,  as  his  father  possessed  a  handsome  fortune  and  his  tastes 
inclined  him  to  a  business  life. 

In  the  intervals  of  his  professional  studies  he  experienced  the 
usual  fate  of  well-bred  Americans — he  fell  in  love.  The  lady  was 
handsome  and  attractive,  Marie  L.,  daughter  of  ex-Governor  John 
M.  Morehead,  and  it  was  soon  evident  that  they  were  congenial 
spirits.  They  were  married  in  1852,  and  for  a  few  months  lived 
at  Palmyra,  the  family  homestead,  but  not  being  enamored  of 
farming,  Patterson  removed  to  Greensboro  and  took  a  practical 
course  in  banking  under  his  wife's  tmcle,  Jesse  H.  Lindsay.    It 


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338  NORTH  CAROLINA 

was  not  long,  however,  before  a  combined  cotton,  flour  and  paper 
mill  in  Salem  came  on  the  market,  and  aided  by  his  father-in-law, 
he  became  the  owner  and  manager  of  the  three  manufacturing 
enterprises  and  removed  his  residence  to  Salem. 

Here  he  lived  a  busy  but  most  happy  life,  four  children  glad- 
dening his  home,  a  fifth  dying  in  childhood.  Of  those  who  sur- 
vived, Jesse  Lindsay  is  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Winston,  Carrie  F. 
is  the  wife  of  ex- Judge  A.  L.  Coble,  Lettie  W.  became  the  wife 
of  Colonel  Frank  H.  Fries  and  died  early,  Louis  Morehead  did 
not  long  outlive  an  honored  course  at  the  State  University.  His 
excellent  wife  was  removed  to  the  realms  above  in  May,  1862,  in 
the  midst  of  the  harassing  anxieties  and  excitement  of  the  Civil 
War. 

It  was  his  rule  rather  to  avoid  than  to  seek  public  office.  An 
important  and  influential  position,  however,  he  consented  to  hold 
for  five  years,  the  position  which  was  held  at  times  in  their  re- 
spective counties  by  ex-Chief  Justice  Ruflin,  ex-Senator  George 
E.  Badger,  Thomas  P.  Devereux,  William  Plummer,  Richard  H. 
Smith  and  other  strong  retired  lawyers,  that  of  chairman  of  the 
Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions,  or  County  Courts  of  For- 
syth County.  This  court  had  very  extensive  powers.  It  had  juris- 
diction, with  a  few  exceptions,  of  all  civil  cases,  and  of  all  crim- 
inal offenses  where  the  punishment  did  not  extend  to  loss  of  limb 
or  member.  While  all  the  justices  of  the  peace  had  right  to  sit, 
they  had  the  power,  and  always  exercised  it,  to  appoint  three  of 
their  number,  designated  as  the  Special  Court,  the  chairman  of 
which,  if  possessed  of  force  of  character  and  knowledge  of  the  law, 
had  in  many  respects  the  functions  of  a  judge.  Indeed  in  some  of 
the  States  he  is  dignified  with  the  title  of  county  judge. 

For  five  years,  1855-60,  "Esquire"  Patterson  held  this  respon- 
sible post,  and  his  county  had  the  blessing  of  intelligent,  firm  and 
impartial  administration  of  justice.  Moreover,  it  had  perfect  in- 
tegrity, economy  and  wisdom  in  the  management  of  its  affairs 
and  in  the  collection  and  expenditure  of  its  funds. 

The  resignation  of  the  chairman  was  accepted  with  reluctance, 
but  his  fellow-citizens  of  Salem  bestowed  upon  him  the  oflfice  of 


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RUFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON  339 

mayor,  not,  however,  onerous  in  a  town  distinguished  for  its 
orderly  conduct.  His  administration,  which  continued  several 
years,  met  with  the  universal  approval  pi  his  townsmen. 

On  the  great  questions  the  discussion  of  which  preceded  the  dis- 
astrous Civil  War,  his  position  was  that  held  by  a  majority,  if  not 
two-thirds,  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina.  His  blood  boiled  at 
the  unconstitutional  acts  of  many  of  those  of  high  authority  at  the 
North,  and  the  evident  intention  of  the  majority  to  deprive  the 
Southern  States  of  certain  of  their  rights  under  the  Constitution, 
but  in  his  judgment  the  disproportion  in  resources  was  too  greatly 
in  favor  of  the  United  States  Government  to  give  the  seceding 
States  a  fair  chance  of  success  in  a  war.  When  the  war  came, 
with  a  heavy  heart  and  fear  of  impending  ruin,  rather  than  have 
civil  war  at  home,  he  gave  in  his  adhesion  to  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy. 

Together  with  Mr.  T.  J.  Wilson,  afterward  judge,  he  was 
elected  to  the  convention  of  February,  1861,  which  was  voted 
down  at  the  polls,  and  again  to  the  Secession  Convention  which 
met  May  20,  1861.  They  both  signed  the  ordinance  of  Seces- 
sion, as  did  every  other  delegate. 

Although  the  convention  passed  the  ordinance  of  Secession 
unanimously,  a  division  among  its  members  sprang  up  at  once. 
Most  of  those  knoWn  as  "Old  Union"  men  thought  that  Governor 
Ellis  in  filling  up  the  ranks  of  the  ten  regiments  of  State  troops 
discriminated  in  favor  of  "Original  Secessionists,"  i.e.,  those  who 
advocated  secession  as  the  right  and  duty  of  the  South.  They 
felt  that,  in  view  of  the  authorities  at  Raleigh  and  Montgomery, 
they  and  their  friends  were  regarded  with  coldness  if  not  with 
suspicion.  They  determined  to  organize  into  a  party.  Colonel 
Patterson  did  not  think  this  movement  wise,  and  refused  to  join. 
He  thought  it  best  to  have  a  united  front  and  for  awhile  at  least 
to  support  the  constituted  authorities  without  criticism.  A  sufficient 
number  of  "Old  Union"  men  agreed  with  him  to  give  their  oppo- 
nents for  some  weeks  the  control  of  the  convention.  Ultimately, 
however,  the  control  shifted  to  the  other  side. 

While  the  convention  was  in  this  ferment  the  election  for  dele- 


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340  NORTH  CAROLINA 

gates  to  the  Provisional  Congress  came  on.  The  "Old  Union" 
men  held  a  caucus  under  the  Presidency  of  William  A.  Graham 
and  nominated  Bedford  Brown  and  H.  W.  Miller  for  the  State 
at  large,  and  W.  N.  H.  Smith,  Green,  Leak,  Arrington,  More- 
head,  Puryear,  Myers  and  Davidson  for  the  districts.  The  orig- 
inal secessionists  nominated  Avery  and  George  Davis  for  the 
State  at  large,  and  R.  H.  Smith,  Ruffin  of  Wayne,  McDowell, 
Venable,  Cunningham,  Patterson,  Craige  and  Woodfin  for  the 
districts.  The  result  was  six  to  four,  as  the  following  were  chosen : 
Avery,  Davis,  W.  N.  H.  Smith,  Ruffin  of  Wayne,  McDowell,  Ven- 
able, Morehead,  Puryear,  Craige,  Davidson.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  no  reflection  on  the  popularity  of  Patterson  to  be 
beaten  by  Puryear,  so  much  older  and  more  widely  known,  en- 
dorsed by  a  caucus  of  members  pledged  to  his  support. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  Colonel  Patterson  resolved  on  a 
change  of  scene.  He  sold  his  Salem  property  and  returned  to  his 
native  county,  Caldwell.  He  became  the  manager  of  the  cotton 
factory  at  Patterson  on  the  Yadkin.  In  this  business  he  con- 
tinued until  the  spring  of  1865,  when  the  soldiers  engaged  in 
Stoneman's  raid  burned  it  to  the  ground. 

The  Confederate  Congress  determined  that  the  managers  of 
factories  engaged  in  manufacturing  the  material  of  clothing  for 
the  army  and  people  were  of  more  benefit  to  the  Southern  cause 
than  soldiers  in  the  field,  and  therefore  exempted  them  from  army 
service.  Colonel  Patterson's  military  title  was  only  honorary, 
given  by  his  associates  because  of  his  martial  bearing.  He  was 
never  an  enlisted  soldier,  but  on  one  occasion  participated  in  a 
movement  which  had  a  tragic  ending.  A  company  of  bush- 
whackers threatened  a  raid  on  Morganton.  A  hastily  raised  vol- 
unteer company,  under  the  distinguished  Colonel  Waightstill  W. 
Avery,  a  brother-in-law  of  Colonel  Patterson,  late  a  Confederate 
State  senator,  overawed  the  enemy  and  they  rapidly  retreated. 
In  the  pursuit  Avery,  who  led  the  van,  was  mortally  wounded 
by  a  Parthian  shot,  and  Patterson,  who  was  near  to  the  stricken 
man,  bore  him  home  to  his  afflicted  family. 

In  1864  he  married  another  handsome  and  attractive  lady,  Mary 


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RUFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON  34i 

E.  Fries,  daughter  of  Francis  Fries  of  Salem,  a  prominent  manu- 
facturer and  merchant.  They  had  six  children,  all  living  and 
prospering.  Frank  F.,  the  oldest,  is  on  the  staff  of  the  Baltimore 
Sun;  Samuel  F.  is  a  cotton  manufacturer  of  Baltimore;  Andrew 
H.  is  Professor  of  Physics  in  the  University  of  Georgia ;  Rufus  L. 
is  third  vice-president  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company;  John 
L.  is  a  cotton  manufacturer  at  Roanoke  Rapids,  and  Edmond  V. 
is  in  the  cotton  commission  business  in  New  York  City. 

After  the  burning  of  his  factory  on  the  Yadkin,  Patterson  con- 
cluded to  change  his  residence  back  to  Salem.    He  engaged  in 
•  merchandising  with  Mr.  H.  W.  Fries  and  continued  in  this  busi- 
ness until  his  death,  in  1879. 

As  the  Southern  cause  became  clearly  hopeless  he  sympathized 
with  those  who  believed  that  utterly  needless  destruction  of  life 
and  property  should  be  averted  by  securing  terms  of  peace  before 
the  military  power  of  the  Confederacy  should  be  destroyed.  In 
their  opinion  it  was  more  dignified  and  more  sensible,  as  the  mili- 
tary and  civil  authorities  knew  they  were  beaten  in  January,  not  to 
wait  until  they  were  routed  and  under  the  victor's  heel  in  April. 
And  when  finally  at  the  mercy  of  the  United  States,  he  was 
among  those  who  thought  that  opposition  to  the  measures  of  re- 
construction of  the  Union  were  useless  and  undignified,  per- 
haps mischievous.  With  these  views  he  acted  with  the  Republi- 
can Party,  but  not  only  was  never  accused,  but  not  even  suspected, 
of  participating  in  the  corrupt  legislation  of  1868-69.  On  the 
contrary  he  openly  denounced  it,  and  when  solicited  by  his  friends 
to  allow  his  name  to  go  before  the  Republican  Convention  of  1872 
for  the  nomination  to  the  governorship,  he  peremptorily  declined. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Convention  of  1865,  called  by  order 
of  President  Johnson  to  inaugurate  the  resumption  by  the  State 
of  its  relations  with  the  United  States,  elected  from  his  native 
county  of  Caldwell,  where  he  was  then  living.  He  supported  in 
this  body  of  able  men  the  measures,  some  of  them  unpalatable, 
deemed  necessary  for  effecting  the  objects  for  which  they  were 
called.  In  addition  to  this  they  adopted  a  new  constitution,  em- 
bodying excellent  provisions,  but  the  people  voted  it  down  mainly 


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342  NORTH  CAROLINA 

because  the  body  which  proposed  it  was  called  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States. 

He  was  always  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Governor  Vance, 
and  voted  for  him  in  1876. 

He  was  a  strong  advocate  of  internal  improvements,  especially 
of  the  Western  North  Carolina  Railroad  from  Salisbury  to  Paint 
Rock  and  Murphy,  and  of  the  Northwestern  North  Carolina  Road 
from  Greensboro  to  Winston.  He  was  a  director  in  both  and  the 
treasurer  of  the  latter,  and  was  also  a  director  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Railroad  Company.  He  denounced  the  lavish  issue  of  special 
tax  bonds,  and  those  authorized  for  the  Northwestern  North* 
Carolina  Railroad  were,  with  his  approval,  refused  acceptance  by 
President  Belo  and  his  directors.  They  saw  that  the  reckless  ac- 
cumulation of  debt  was  in  excess  of  the  public  resources,  and  dis- 
honest repudiation  was  inevitable. 

Colonel  Patterson  was  a  warm  friend  of  education  generally, 
but  especially  of  his  alma  mater,  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina. He  was  made  a  trustee  in  1874,  and  was  active  in  participa- 
tion in  the  measures  necessary  for  reopening  its  doors.  He  con- 
tributed handsomely  to  the  funds  needed  for  repairing  the  build- 
ings and  used  his  powerful  influence  in  procuring  tHe  passage 
through  the  General  Assembly  of  the  bill  for  paying  interest  on 
the  Land  Grant  Fund,  which  enabled  the  trustees  to  promise 
salaries  to  the  professors.  When  the  vote  was  about  to  be  taken 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  it  passed  by  only  one  vote, 
the  member  from  Forsyth,  Dr.  Wheeler,  stated  publicly  that  he 
favored  the  measure  because  of  a  request  he  had  just  received 
from  his  friend  Colonel  Patterson,  in  whose  judgment  he  had  en- 
tire confidence.  Again,  when  some  trustees  proposed  to  elect  a 
president  because  of  the  glamour  of  his  services  in  the  war  of 
Secession,  he  urged  upon  his  desk-mate  at  school,  and  warm 
friend  ever  since,  Kemp  P.  Battle,  to  allow  his  name  to  go  before 
the  board.  He  said :  "If  a  president  is  elected  on  the  war  idea  we 
Republicans  cannot  support  him.  We  have  confidence  in  you  as 
a  fair  man,  although  you  do  not  belong  to  our  party.  If  you  will 
take  the  office  we  will  stand  by  you."    The  prediction  proved  true. 


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RUFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON  343 

Not  only  did  his  party  make  no  opposition  to  the  revival  of  the 
institution,  but  as  a  rule  its  members  gave  it  their  active  sup- 
port. 

Colonel  Patterson's  parents  were  members  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  but  after  long  residence  at  Salem  and  associa- 
tion with  the  Moravians,  he  joined  their  church.  At  the  funeral 
the  preacher,  Rev.  L.  B.  Wurreschke,  spoke  particularly  of  the 
bereavement  which  had  fallen  upon  the  young  men  of  the  town — 
members  of  literary  societies  and  debating  clubs,  who  had  lost 
their  guide,  philosopher  and  friend.  He  spoke  of  the  deceased 
as  a  "Saul  amongst  men  physically  as  well  as  intellectually."  He 
was,  in  truth,  in  public  and  private  life  generous,  sympathetic, 
kindly,  charitable,  courteous,  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  just, 
honorable  and  truthful.  If  he  had  felt  called  to  the  stormy  life 
of  the  politician  his  gifts  would  probably  have  raised  him  to  high 
places.  Though  sometimes  induced  to  serve  in  public  stations  of 
honor  and  trust,  he  preferred  the  quiet  but  equally  useful  pur- 
suits of  the  manufacturer  and  merchant.  His  happiness  was 
chiefly  in  his  home,  aiding  in  training  up  his  children  to  be  orna- 
ments and  blessings  to  the  society  in  which  they  move. 

Kemp  P.  Battle. 


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SAMUEL   LEGERWOOD   PATTERSON 

[S  much  as  the  State  is  indebted  for  her  prosperity 
in  these  later  years  to  the  enterprise  of  her 
manufacturers  and  of  those  engaged  in  de- 
veloping her  industrial  resources,  she  is  equally 
indebted  to  the  efforts  of  her  intelligent  ag^- 
culturists  for  the  great  advance  she  has  made 
in  material  progress  during  this  period. 

In  this  work  the  Board  of  Agriculture  has  played  the  chief 
part,  and  the  name  of  S.  L.  Patterson  is  more  prominent  than  that 
of  any  other  citizen,  and  his  labors  have  been  more  efficacious  in 
this  connection  than  those  of  any  of  his  patriotic  coadjutors. 

Mr.  Patterson  is  sprung  from  a  distinguished  ancestry.  On 
his  mother's  side  he  is  a  grandson  of  General  William  Lenoir, 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  characters  in  the  annals  of  the  State, 
and  one  whose  virtues  are  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  posterity. 

His  father,  Samuel  Finley  Patterson,  was  famous  as  a  financier 
and  business  man  of  unusual  capacity.  He  was  treasurer  of  the 
State,  and  was  for  five  years  president  of  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston 
Railroad,  being  particularly  distinguished  for  his  spirit  of  prog- 
ress and  as  a  warm  and  intelligent  promoter  of  internal  improve- 
ments and  of  public  education  at  the  inception  of  the  State's  policy 
in  those  matters. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  born  the  6th  of  March,  1850,  was 
the  younger  son  of  the  marriage  of  S.  F.  Patterson  with  Phoebe 


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SAMUEL  LEGERWOOD  PATTERSON  345 

Caroline  Jones,  a  daughter  of  General  Edmund  Jones  and  his  wife, 
Miss  Lenoir. 

Eleven  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
War,  he  still  had  the  benefit  of  a  substantial  preliminary  educa- 
tion at  Faucette's  School,  Bingham's,  and  Wilson's  Academy.  At 
the  age  of  seventeen,  in  1867,  he  entered  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  and  remained  there  until  that  institution  was  closed  in 
1868,  incident  to  a  change  of  administration,  and  then  took  one 
year  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  Returning  from  school,  he 
found  employment  as  clerk  and  bookkeeper  in  Salem,  North  Caro- 
lina, where  his  elder  brother,  Rufus  L.  Patterson,  had  connec- 
tions, he  having  married  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Miss 
Morehead,  Miss  Mary  E.  Fries  of  Salem,  North  Carolina.  His 
residence  in  that  community  brought  him  in  close  contact  with 
business  men  of  fine  character  and  capacity,  and  tended  to 
strengthen  him  in  those  convictions  of  duty  which  he  had  inherited 
and  which  had  been  instilled  by  his  association  with  the  members 
of  his  father's  household. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  1873,  Mr.  Patterson  was  happily  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  S.  Senseman  of  Salem,  a  daughter 
of  the  Rt.  Rev.  E.  T.  Senseman,  a  Moravian  minister  of  Indiana, 
and  being  drawn  by  his  inclination  for  agricultural  pursuits  and 
by  his  fondness  for  home  life  on  a  farm,  he  adopted  agriculture 
as  his  vocation  in  life.  He  brought  to  that  business  a  fine  intelli- 
gence, cultivated  in  the  school  of  experience  no  less  than  in  the 
institutions  of  learning  where  he  had  been  trained.  His  character- 
istics well  fitted  him  for  ample  success;  careful  and  prudent, 
thoughtful  and  energetic  in  his  work,  conservative  in  his  purposes 
and  moderate  in  all  the  lines  of  his  thought. 

Descended  from  those  who  had  so  long  been  fine  farmers,  he 
naturally  occupied  a  vantage  ground  for  the  study  of  all  questions 
that  looked  to  the  betterment  of  the  agricultural  classes  of  the 
State,  and  he  soon  became  known  as  one  of  the  most  thoughtful 
and  intelligent  farmers  of  his  region. 

In  early  life  Mr.  Patterson  was  led  to  espouse  the  Republican 
Party,  but  was  so  highly  esteemed  that  he  was  appointed  a  justice 


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346  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  peace  by  a  Democratic  legislature,  and  later  was  elected 
county  commissioner  in  a  Democratic  county.  Subsequently,  in 
1880,  he  was  appointed,  through  Democratic  influences,  a  super- 
visor of  the  census.  He  supported  Cleveland  for  the  Presidency, 
being  led  to  embrace  the  Democratic  policy  in  regard  to  the  tariff 
from  a  conviction  that  that  was  the  better  policy  for  the  agri- 
cultural people  of  the  South,  and  that  the  interest  of  the  whole 
country  would  be  best  subserved  by  a  change  in  the  Federal  ad- 
ministration. In  1 89 1,  when  there  was  great  unrest  among  the 
farming  people  of  the  State,  and  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  by  its 
close  and  powerful  organization,  dominated  the  Democratic  Party, 
Mr.  Patterson  was  brought  forward  by  his  friends  as  the  Demo- 
cratic nominee  for  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Caldwell 
County,  and  was  elected  to  that  body.  He  displayed  marked 
ability  as  a  legislator,  and  exercised  a  fine  influence  among  his 
fellow-members.  That  General  Assembly  had  to  choose  a  senator. 
Senator  Vance's  term  being  about  to  expire.  The  Democratic 
people  of  the  State  desired  that  Vance  should  be  elected  to  succeed 
himself,  but  at  that  time  the  Farmers'  Alliance  had  a  large  ma- 
jority in  the  legislature,  and,  under  the  influence  of  its  leaders, 
had  prescribed  a  test  for  office  requiring  a  pledge  to  support  what 
was  called  the  Sub-Treasury  Bill,  a  scheme  of  finance  that  lawyers 
and  conservative  Democrats  thought  unconstitutional  as  well  as 
very  unwise.  The  Assembly  proposed  to  exact  from  Senator 
Vance  a  pledge  to  support  this  measure,  and  if  he  declined  he  was 
to  be  defeated.  It  was  a  great  crisis.  Senator  Vance  felt  that  all 
the  honors  he  had  enjoyed  in  public  life  had  been  due  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  agricultural  community,  and  he  would  have  given  his 
life  to  serve  the  farmers  of  the  State.  But  he  felt  that  this  exac- 
tion, if  he  submitted  to  it,  would  mean  dishonor,  and  while  he 
was  careful  not  to  disclose  his  purpose,  yet  he  realized  that  circum- 
stances might  force  him  to  decline  an  election  at  the  hands  of  the 
very  element  of  the  population  who  had  until  then  been  his  most 
unwavering  and  devoted  friends  and  supporters.  He  was  greatly 
moved  by  the  embarrassments  of  the  situation,  and  was  a  prey  to 
conflicting  emotions.    At  the  critical  moment,  Mr.  Patterson  cut 


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SAMUEL  LEGERWOOD  PATTERSON  347 

the  Gordian  knot  and  relieved  the  situation  of  all  embarrassment 
by  proposing  a  modification  of  the  resolutions  of  instructions, 
which  rendered  them  acceptable  both  to  the  Alliance  and  to  Senator 
Vance,  who  was  committed  to  observe  the  doctrine  of  instructions 
which  had  prevailed  in  North  Carolina  during  the  States  Rights 
period  before  the  war.  The  original  resolution  which  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Alliance  required  the  senators  to  vote  for  and  use 
all  honorable  means  to  secure  the  financial  reform  demanded  in 
the  platform  adopted  by  the  Ocala  meeting;  as  amended  by  Mr. 
Patterson,  the  senators  were  instructed  to  vote  for  and  use  all 
honorable  means  to  secure  the  object  of  the  financial  reform  as 
contemplated  in  that  platform. 

Mr.  Patterson,  in  a  letter  which  is  printed  in  Dowd's  "Life 
of  Vance,"  says:  "In  the  afternoon  a  rumor  reached  me  that 
Governor  Vance  was  bitterly  disappointed  at  the  action  of  the 
House  and  would  decline  the  election.  I  had  felt  that  the  amend- 
ment gave  such  elasticity  to  the  resolution  as  to  relieve  its  ob- 
jectionable feature,  and  hence  was  so  chagrined  at  the  supposed 
failure  that  I  absented  myself  during  the  afternoon,  and  it  was 
only  on  Charlie  Vance's  invitation  at  night  that  I  went  to  the  room. 
The  first  sight  of  the  face  so  beloved  by  North  Carolinians  was 
sufficient  to  convince  me  of  the  error.  Lit  up  with  an  expression 
very  different  from  the  evident  depression  of  the  morning,  in  his 
inimitable  manner  he  rose  and  came  forward,  greeting  me  with  the 
remark,  'I  want  to  give  my  hand  to  the  man  who  offered  that 
amendment ;  that  was  the  best  day's  work  you  ever  did ;  at  least, 
the  best  for  me.'  His  whole  appearance  had  changed,  and  his 
usual  buoyant  spirits  had  returned.  Continuing  to  discuss  the 
amendment,  and  turning  to  the  lamented  Buck  Jones,  who  was 
present,  he  remarked  in  that  familiar,  drawling  tone  of  voice: 
'You  know  what  a  long-headed  old  coon  Jarvis  is?  When  I 
showed  him  the  resolution  as  passed,  he  said,  "Is  that  all?"  I 
replied,  "This  is  the  copy  sent  me  by  Bob  Furman."  "Why,"  he 
says,  "that's  just  what  you  have  been  working  for  all  the  time." 
"Yes,"  said  I;  "there's  nothing  in  this  resolution  that  I  cannot 
cheerfully  endorse." ' " 


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348  NORTH  CAROLINA 

And  Senator  Vance  continued  to  serve  the  people  in  that  high 
position  at  Washington  City  which  he  had  for  so  many  years 
adorned. 

At  the  next  session  Mr.  Patterson  represented  his  constituents 
in  the  State  Senate.  His  record  in  that  body  was  one  that  received 
unstinted  encomiums.  His  worth  as  a  public  man  became  fully 
realized^  and  his  excellence  of  character  and  fine  business  capa- 
bilities were  appreciated  by  all  who  came  within  the  sphere  of  his 
influence.  He  had  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  while  a  member  of  the  House ;  on  being  elected  to  the 
Senate  he  resigned,  but  after  the  Senate  adjourned  he  was  chosen 
by  the  Board  of  Agriculture  to  the  important  position  of  com- 
missioner of  agriculture,  and  held  that  place  until  1897,  when, 
because  of  the  fusion  between  the  Republicans  and  Populists,  the 
Democratic  Party  fell  into  the  minority,  and  the  incumbents  of 
all  the  higher  State  offices  were  changed.  In  1898  he  was  again 
elected  a  member  of  the  House,  and  by  that  body  he  was  re-elected 
commissioner  of  agriculture.  At  that  legislature  the  law  was 
altered  so  as  to  require  that  the  commissioner  of  agriculture 
should  be  elected  by  the  people  in  general  election  with  other  State 
officers  for  a  term  of  four  years;  and  at  the  general  election  in 
1900  he  was  nominated  by  the  Democratic  Party,  and  was  elected 
along  with  Governor  Aycock,  and  on  the  expiration  of  that  term 
in  1904  he  was  again  nominated  and  chosen  for  a  second  term 
along  with  Governor  Glenn.  Thus  Mr.  Patterson  has  been  four 
times  elected  commissioner  of  agriculture.  That  fact  tells  its 
own  story.  It  carries  with  it  evidence  of  remarkable  efficiency  and 
great  administrative  capacity.  It  is  to  be  said  of  Mr.  Patterson 
that  no  gentleman  of  the  State  is  freer  from  demagogical  arts 
and  political  wire-working  than  he  is.  Quietly  he  has  pursued 
his  proper  line  of  work,  and  his  popularity  is  to  be  ascribed  only 
to  his  personal  qualities  of  head  and  heart  and  to  the  thorough 
efficiency  which  has  characterized  the  management  of  his  g^eat 
department  while  under  his  supervision. 

Indeed,  his  work  to  improve  conditions  in  North  Carolina  has 
been  so  successful  and  so  important  that  it  constitutes  a  just  basis 


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SAMUEL  LEGERWOOD  PATTERSON  349 

for  enduring  fame.  While  others  have  led  in  the  struggle  for 
political  victories,  Mr.  Patterson  has  exerted  himself  to  ameliorate 
the  circumstances  of  the  people. 

When  in  the  Assembly  of  1899  a  Pure  Food  Law  was  proposed, 
being  an  innovation,  it  was  in  imminent  danger  of  defeat  when 
Mr.  Patterson  redoubled  his  efforts,  and  by  his  urgent  personal 
appeals  secured  its  passage ;  and  that  law  has  been  the  basis  of  all 
the  subsequent  enactments  of  a  similar  character  in  this  State. 
He  was  largely  responsible  for  the  passage  of  the  law  relative  to 
foodstuffs,  and  this  subject  has  received  a  great  deal  of  his  atten- 
tion ;  before  that  law  was  passed  there  was  no  protection  to  con- 
sumers in  the  purchase  of  foodstuffs,  and  the  analysis  of  many 
of  them  showed  that  they  were  virtually  wprthless,  being  a  mere 
fraud  on  the  public. 

As  commissioner  Mr.  Patterson  has  been  active  in  the  pro- 
motion of  the  live-stock  industry,  especially  cattle,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  the  employment  of  a  State  veterinarian  and  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  quarantine  lines.  Acting  on  the  belief  that  ticks  caused 
or  carried  the  cattle  fever,  as  it  has  since  been  demonstrated  that 
the  mosquito  carried  the  yellow  fever,  Mr.  Patterson  directed 
attention  to  the  elimination  of  those  cattle  pests,  and  his  work  has 
met  with  admirable  success.  Very  beneficial  results  have  been 
achieved  in  this  branch  of  the  department's  work.  The  quaran- 
tine line  has  been  considerably  extended  to  the  eastward,  so  that 
twenty-two  counties  of  the  State  are  now  free  from  the  infection, 
with  the  effect  that  every  county  so  benefited  realizes  about  a  cent 
per  pound  advance  in  the  value  of  its  beef. 

While  from  the  inception  of  the  department  the  law  has  con- 
tained reference  to  ravages  from  insects,  nothing  practical  was 
accomplished  until,  through  the  influence  of  the  commissioner,  a 
competent  entomologist  was  employed,  and  the  work  of  this 
branch  of  the  department  has  now  become  of  great  benefit.  It 
includes  work  to  arrest  the  destruction  of  both  field  and  horti- 
cultural crops,  fruits  as  well  as  vegetables.  There  had  never  been 
a  spray  pump  used  in  North  Carolina  until  the  department  took 
up  that  matter  and  made  a  strenuous  campaign  to  secure  the  intro- 


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3SO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

duction  and  use  of  these  admirable  appliances,  and  there  is  now 
abundant  evidence  of  the  most  beneficial  results. 

As  an  outgrowth  of  efforts  in  this  direction,  the  department 
has  undertaken  for  the  first  time  practical  horticultural  instruc- 
tion, and  a  competent  man  has  been  employed  to  give  instruction 
in  the  growing  of  vegetables  and  of  fruits.  Incident  to  this  work 
there  has  been  a  very  large  development  of  the  trucking  interests, 
which  yearly  has  expanded  and  become  more  profitable,  largely 
through  the  efforts  of  the  department  to  promote  its  growth. 
Indeed,  the  expansion  of  this  horticultural  business  has  been  in 
these  latter  years  marvellous,  and  it  now  constitutes  one  of  the 
most  important  industries  of  the  State. 

In  addition  to  the  \york  of  the  specialists  in  the  department  who 
have  been  introduced  through  the  influence  of  the  commissioner, 
there  have  also  been  sent  out  specialists  to  teach  the  people  through 
farmers'  institutes,  which  have  constantly  grown  in  importance 
and  efficiency  during  the  period  in  which  Mr.  Patterson  has  been 
commissioner. 

As  further  illustrating  the  purpose  of  the  commissioner  and  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture  to  be  of  assistance  in  a  practical  way, 
the  department  has  established  four  test  farms,  one  in  the  county 
of  Edgecombe,  in  Pender,  Iredell  and  Transylvania;  and  they 
have  in  view  an  extension  of  this  beneficent  work,  which  has 
met  with  great  approbation  on  the  part  of  the  farmers.  Indeed, 
the  value  of  these  test  farms  is  so  thoroughly  recognized  and 
appreciated-  that  the  farmers  in  the  sections  where  they  have  been 
established  have  offered  donations  to  secure  them,  and  very 
material  assistance  in  money  and  lands  is  tendered  the  board  when- 
ever it  is  proposed  to  establish  a  new  one. 

The  Board  of  Agriculture  is  ex-oMcio  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  and  since  that  insti- 
tution has  been  committed  to  their  charge  it  has  really  become 
what  its  name  implies,  not  merely  an  institution  for  instruction 
in  mechanics,  but  one  having  an  admirable  course  in  ag^culture 
and  in  all  its  adjuncts  and  allied  subjects.  While  the  work  of 
that  institution  is  so  important  in  the  field  of  manufacturing,  it  is 


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SAMUEL  LEGERWOOD  PATTERSON  351 

now  still  more  interesting  and  important  to  the  agricultural  people 
of  the  State.  Mr.  Patterson,  as  commissioner  of  agriculture,  is 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  is  chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  college,  chairman  of  the  Executive  and  Finance 
committees  of  both  institutions;  and  his  personal  responsibilities 
under  the  Act  of  1901  have  been  so  vastly  increased  that  in  the 
performance  of  his  several  duties  he  exerts  a  potent  influence  in 
many  channels  upon  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  people  of  the 
State. 

How  thoroughly  he  performed  his  duties,  and  how  satisfactorily, 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  at  each  recurring  election  by  the 
people  he  has  received  an  increased  vote,  and  at  the  last  election 
he  received  the  largest  vote  given  to  any  person  on  the  State  ticket 
The  people  accord  to  him  the  plaudit  of  "Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

In  the  summer  of  1905  Mr.  Patterson,  accompanied  by  Mrs, 
Patterson,  made  a  short  tour  in  Europe.  While  circumstances  did 
not  permit  of  extended  observations  of  agricultural  conditions 
abroad,  yet  Mr.  Patterson  made  such  investigations  as  were  con- 
venient, and  entertains  the  opinion  that  while  there  is  much  thrift 
and  attention  to  details  and  carefulness  to  prevent  waste,  par- 
ticularly in  the  matter  of  manures  and  fertilizers,  in  the  com- 
munities he  visited,  yet  the  European  agriculturist  is  behind  the 
American  in  many  important  particulars.  That  with  us  there 
is  a  far  more  general  use  of  improved  machinery  on  the  farms  than 
in  Europe ;  and  he  is  strengthened  in  the  conviction  that  American 
ways  are  superior  to  those  of  the  older  communities  abroad. 

5.  A.  Ashe. 


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LINDSAY    PATTERSON 

^HE  founder  of  the  Patterson  family  in  North 
Carolina,  Samuel  F.  Patterson,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  but  when  still  a  boy  he  came  to  North 
Carolina  and  attained  such  eminence  that  in 
1835  he  was  elected  State  treasurer,  and  1840 
he  became  president  of  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston 
Railroad  Company ;  and  he  was  the  first  man  in  the  State  on  whom 
was  conferred  the  office  of  Grand  Master  of  the  Masonic  order. 
His  descendants  have  maintained  a  position  of  the  highest  social 
distinction  in  North  Carolina,  uniting  intelligence  and  attain- 
ments to  fine  character  and  successful  careers  as  business  men.  A 
son  of  Samuel  Patterson,  Rufus  Lenoir  Patterson,  married  first 
Louise  M.  Morehead,  a  daughter  of  Governor  John  M.  Morehead ; 
but  this  lady  dying  in  May,  1862,  Mr.  Patterson  married,  in  1864, 
Miss  Mary  E.  Fries,  a  daughter  of  Francis  Fries  of  Salem,  North 
Carolina.  Both  unions  were  blessed  with  issue.  Of  the  children 
by  the  daughter  of  Governor  Morehead,  two  attained  maturity — 
Caroline,  who  became  the  wife  of  A.  L.  Coble  of  Statesville,  North 
Carolina,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Lindsay  Patterson  was  born  on  May  16,  1858,  at  Bland  wood, 
the  residence  of  Governor  Morehead  in  Greensboro.  At  that  time 
his  father  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods  at 
Salem,  North  Carolina,  and  the  early  years  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  were  passed  in  Salem.    On  the  death  of  his  mother,  in  1862, 


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LINDSAY    I'  ATU.RSON 


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LINDSAV    I'ATTIlRSON 

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Ct  '' ^  "T^  r"^  ^  'M'lnia,  but  wLcn  s!:I!  a  '•  y  he  <. -n.- 
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LINDSAY  PATTERSON  353 

his  father,  however,  moved  to  Caldwell  County  and  there  likewise 
engaged  in  cotton  manufacturing,  his  mill  being  located  at  Patter- 
son. 

In  April,  1865,  when  the  drama  of  the  war  was  coming  to  its 
close.  General  Stoneman,  with  a  heavy  force  of  Federal  cavalry, 
burst  through  the  mountains  from  Elast  Tennessee  and  scoured 
Western  Carolina,  destroying  property  and  carrying  consternation 
among  the  defenseless  people.  At  Patterson  the  Federal  force 
burned  the  factory  operated  by  Mr.  R.  L.  Patterson,  who,  early  in 
1867,  returned  to  Salem  and  conducted  his  business  there  until 
his  death  in  1879. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  the  advantage  of  the  excellent 
primary  schools  at  Salem,  and  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
he  entered  the  Finley  High  School  at  Lenoir,  conducted  by 
Captain  E.  W.  Faucette,  a  gentleman  of  high  reputation  as  a 
preceptor.  After  two  years  under  his  guidance,  the  young  student 
entered  Davidson  College,  where  he  passed  four  years,  graduating 
in  1878,  second  in  his  class.  To  attain  this  distinction  he  had 
applied  himself  with  assiduity  to  his  studies,  and  his  merit  and 
attainments  are  amply  indicated  when  it  is  considered  that  among 
his  classmates  and  competitors  were  James  W.  Osborne,  Dr.  W.  W. 
Moore,  Charles  M.  Hepburn,  Henry  E.  Fries  and  F.  M.  Williams, 
who  at  the  law,  in  theology,  at  scholastic  learning,  in  business  and 
in  the  editorial  sanctum  have  each  illustrated  the  fine  training  of 
their  alma  mater  and  given  evidence  of  particular  excellence. 

After  graduating  at  Davidson,  Lindsay  Patterson,  having  de- 
cided to  seek  a  professional  career,  attended  the  law  lectures  of 
Judge  W.H.  Battle  at  Chapel  Hill,  and  then  studied  law  in  Greens- 
boro under  Judges  Dick  and  Dillard.  Being  admirably  prepared, 
he  passed  his  examination  in  1881,  and  located  at  Winston-Salem, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  So  well  esteemed  was  he  as  a  young 
man  of  fine  parts  and  unusual  merit,  that  hardly  had  he  entered 
upon  the  practice  before  the  justices  of  Forsyth  County  elected 
him  solicitor  of  the  County  Criminal  Court,  which  at  once  brought 
him  into  professional  contact  with  the  people  of  the  county.  That 
position  was  indeed  the  stepping  stone  to  the  favor  of  the  best 


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354  NORTH  CAROLINA 

inhabitants  of  both  town  and  country,  and  for  the  two  years  he 
held  it  he  performed  its  duties  so  admirably  as  to  gain  the  entire 
approbation  of  all  classes  of  citizens.  His  attainments  as  a  lawyer 
were  recognized,  and  strength  of  his  character,  justifying  the 
highest  confidence  in  his  integrity,  was  evident. 

Among  the  pupils  of  Salem  Academy  had  been  Miss  Lucy 
Bramlette  Patterson,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  William  Houston 
Patterson,  a  man  of  brilliant  intellect  and  unusual  attainments 
and  learning,  a  resident  of  Philadelphia,  where  for  half  a  century 
his  father  had  been  one  of  the  foremost  citizens,  venerated  for 
his  patriotic  services  as  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812  and  as  a 
major-general  in  both  the  Mexican  and  the  Civil  Wars.  Reared 
amid  wealth,  culture  and  refinement,  her  natural  graces  led  Mr. 
Patterson  captive,  and  he  was  fortunately  married  to  her  in  1888, 
and  their  home  has  ever  since  been  a  social  center  from  which  has 
radiated  a  most  beneficent  influence.  But  not  merely  do  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Patterson  enjoy  the  elegancies  of  life ;  they  have  the  purpose 
to  be  of  service  in  stimulating  literary  eflEorts  among  North  Caro- 
linians. Mrs.  Patterson,  like  her  cultured  father,  is  singularly 
gifted  with  fine  literary  taste,  and  she  conceived  the  design  of 
promoting  literature  in  North  Carolina  by  offering  some  reward 
for  meritorious  achievements.  Her  father  had  an  abiding  faith 
that  the  South  would  rise  from  the  ashes  of  destruction  and  in 
time  produce  some  of  the  brightest  lights  in  literature  and  art, 
reflecting  glory  on  the  American  name ;  and  sharing  in  his  belief, 
Mrs.  Patterson  was  inspired  to  offer  an  incentive  to  literary 
endeavors.  She  was  led,  as  a  memorial  to  her  father,  to  offer  a 
massive  and  costly  cup  to  be  presented  to  the  North  Carolina 
writer  who  shall  have  achieved  the  greatest  literary  success  during 
the  year,  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  when  it  is  to  become  the  prop- 
erty of  the  person  who  shall  have  won  the  trophy  the  greatest 
number  of  times.  This  cup  is  of  gold,  and  of  massive  construc- 
tion, being  16  inches  high  and  7  inches  in  diameter.  The  coats-of- 
arms  of  North  Carolina,  of  Pennsylvania  and  of  the  Patterson 
family  are  borne  on  the  bases  of  its  three  handles,  and  it  is  studded 
with  forty-nine  gems  selected  by  Mrs.  Patterson  from  a  large 


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LINDSAY  PATTERSON  355 

number  of  precious  stones  found  in  North  Carolina.  The  Patter- 
son Memorial  Cup  was  awarded  the  first  year  to  Mr.  John  Charles 
McNeil,  whose  beautiful  poetry  had  won  the  plaudits  of  North 
Carolinians,  and  the  cup  was  graciously  presented  to  him  by  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  on  his  visit  to  Raleigh  during  his  tour  through  the 
South  in  October,  1905. 

Politically  Mr.  Patterson  is  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school,  be- 
lieving in  the  fundamental,  historic  principles  of  that  party  and 
disdaining  the  radicalism  of  those  leaders  who  seek  to  incorporate 
socialistic  ideas.  He  acts  independent  of  party  organization,  and 
consequently  has  not  been  in  line  for  the  receipt  of  political  honors, 
which  otherwise  would  naturally  have  fallen  upon  one  of  his 
talents  had  he  contested  for  them.  His  high  ideas  of  political 
integrity  are  none  the  less  appreciated,  and  he  counts  as  friends 
the  leading  men  of  all  parties  in  the  State.  Being  a  faithful  slave 
to  his  profession,  it  has  been  only  when  he  considered  that  duty 
called  him  that  he  has  ever  laid  away  his  pleadings  for  politics. 
This  he  did  on  two  occasions,  once  in  the  eventful  year  of  1896, 
when  he  took  part  in  the  Sound  Money  Democratic  Convention 
at  Indianapolis,  which  nominated  Palmer  and  Buckner  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President,  and,  as  elector-at-large  for  that  ticket, 
canvassed  North  Carolina,  making  able  and  exhaustive  addresses 
upon  the  money  question;  and  again  in  1902,  when,  upon  the 
insistence  of  friends,  he  led  a  forlorn  hope  as  an  independent 
Democratic  candidate  for  Congress  against  Hon.  W.  W.  Kitchin, 
the  sitting  member  from  the  Fifth  District. 

But  while  Mr.  Patterson  has  always  been  a  student  of  politics, 
it  is  upon  his  ability  as  a  lawyer  and  his  devotion  to  the  law  that 
his  reputation  will  rest.  Finding  his  chief  pleasure  in  the  con- 
stant pursuit  of  his  professional  duties,  he  has  for  over  twenty 
years  applied  himself  with  that  zeal  and  industry  that  naturally 
finds  its  reward  in  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  which  he  now 
enjoys.  Mr.  Patterson  loves  the  science  of  the  law,  and,  unlike 
so  many  who  love  it  as  a  science,  he  loves  the  active  practice,  and 
IS  never  so  well  pleased  as  when  measuring  legal  lances  with  the 
ablest  of  the  profession.    There  are  few  who  equal  him  in  the 


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356  NORTH  CAROLINA 

careful  and  thorough  preparation  of  cases,  and  none  who  surpass 
him  as  a  bold  and  fearless  advocate  of  his  client's  cause.  These 
qualities  were  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  entire  State  in 
the  famous  impeachment  trial  of  Chief  Justice  Furches  and  Justice 
Robert  M.  Douglass  of  the  Supreme  Court  bench,  in  1901,  when 
Mr.  Patterson  appeared  as  one  of  counsel  for  the  judges.  The 
proceeding  partook  somewhat  of  a  partizan  nature,  the  two  Houses 
of  the  legislature  being  Democratic  and  the  judges  of  the  Republi- 
can faith,  and  the  charges  made  against  them  being  in  some  degree 
connected  with  political  measures.  But  so  skillful  was  the  defense 
made  by  Mr.  Patterson  and  his  associates,  that  notwithstanding 
the  Senate  was  hostile  politically  to  the  arraigned  judges,  they 
were  acquitted.  That  result  of  the  trial  was  regarded  as  a  great 
triumph  for  the  attorneys  conducting  it  on  behalf  of  the  judges, 
and  it  reflected  high  credit  on  Mr.  Patterson  and  those  engaged 
with  him  in  the  defense.  Since  the .  days  of  this  famous  trial 
Mr.  Patterson  has  taken  rank  among  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the 
State,  and  being  yet  in  his  prime,  no  doubt  the  future  will  be  one 
of  distinguished  successes  in  his  profession  and  of  usefulness  to  his 
people.  r 

George  P.  Pell. 


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RUFUS   LENOIR   PATTERSON,   Jr. 


JFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina  and  now  a  resident  of  New 
York  City,  has  achieved  a  very  considerable 
measure  of  success  at  an  early  age.  He  was 
bom  at  Salem,  North  Carolina,  on  July  ii, 
1872,  the  son  of  Rufus  L.  Patterson,  who  has 
been  the  subject  of  a  sketch  already  written  for  this  series,  and 
Mary  F.  Patterson.  From  both  parents  he  inherited  good  sense, 
good  character,  good  looks  and  the  ability  to  make  friends  easily 
and  retain  them  for  all  time.  His  mother  was  of  the  Fries  family 
of  Salem,  North  Carolina.  From  that  family  he  inherited  a 
taste  for  and  ability  in  mechanics,  machinery  and  the  conversion 
of  raw  material  into  manufactured  product,  which  taste  and  talent 
have  constituted  the  basis  of  his  success. 

Mr.  Patterson  began  his  education  at  the  Moravian  Boys' 
School  in  Salem,  and  graduated  from  the  Winston  graded  school 
when  only  fifteen  years  of  age ;  he  spent  a  year  in  field  work  in 
the  location  of  the  Roanoke  and  Southern  Railroad,  and  went 
from  there  to  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  where  he  spent 
one  year,  devoting  himself  to  the  scientific  course.  His  education 
was  completed,  so  far  as  schools  or  colleges  go,  when  he  was  less 
than  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  in  1890  he  became  the  assistant  at 
Concord,  North  Carolina,  of  William  H.  Kerr.    Mr.  Kerr  was  a 


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^     c/^ 


)N,  Jr. 


359 


•  to  Miss  Margaret 
id  of  Durham,  and 
(ead.     This  marriage 
.-suhs  of  Mr.  Patter- 
ranee  of  all  the  events 
irly  happy  one.    They 
ij!  in  a  genuine  Soulh- 

nrham  resulted  in  his 

of  the  American  To- 

1  by  lliat  company  at 

.  the  packing  machine 

inery.    He  came  with 

ready  the  high  regard 

ed  in  their  esteem  and 

^i  the  company  and  one 

•anu  factoring.    It  is  to 

3  in  the  United  States 

ihc  world)  any  other 

Hreclor  and  one  of  the 

of  the  great  industrial 

ritance  and  to  no  large 

111  efficiency. 

rhargc  of  the  manafac- 

r,  his  duties  always  re- 

ntlgmift  ^nd  the  organ- 

ith  tht  enlarj^^emcnt  of 

^*lh  and 

*i-  de* 

t  ex- 

and 

mri- 

•and 

wny, 

tcco 


DigitizecJ^fi|>Ogk 


358  NORTH  CAROLINA 

man  of  ability,  the  inventor  of  machines  for  the  economical  manu- 
facture of  bags  of  all  sorts,  and  his  death,  in  1895,  before  he  had 
reached  the  maturity  of  his  powers,  was  a  distinct  loss  to  the 
State.  Mr.  Patterson  remained  with  Mr.  Kerr  in  his  work  of  in- 
vention and  development  of  machinery  until  1892,  when  he  went 
to  London  for  the  double  purpose  of  exploiting  in  the  European 
markets  the  bag-making  machinery,  in  whose  development  he  had 
assisted,  and  of  pursuing,  in  a  practical  way,  studies  and  prepa- 
ration for  the  work  that  he  had  already  selected  as  his  life-work, 
to  wit,  mechanical  engineering. 

In  1894  he  had  returned  from  London,  had  spent  some  while 
in  Baltimore  and  located  in  Durham,  North  Carolina,  where  he 
became  associated  with  the  Golden  Belt  Manufacturing  Company 
of  that  town,  a  company  formed  for  the  production  and  operation 
of  the  Kerr  bag  machines.  There  are  certainly  more  bags  used  in 
packing  smoking  tobacco  than  in  any  other  one  industry — if  not  in 
all  industries  combined.  It  was  therefore  altogether  natural  that 
the  machines  invented  by  Mr.  Kerr  and  Mr.  Patterson  for  the 
economical  production  of  bags  found  their  greatest  utilization 
in  connection  with  the  manufacture  of  smoking  tobacco. 

This  removal  to  Durham,  where  more  smoking  tobacco  is  manu- 
factured than  at  any  other  place  in  the  world,  was  a  most  fortu- 
nate one  for  Mr.  Patterson  from  every  point  of  view. 

In  the  first  place,  chronologically,  he  became  acquainted  with  all 
of  the  processes  in  the  manufacture  and  preparation  for  the  market 
of  smoking  tobacco,  and  in  the  face  of  discouragement — prover- 
bially the  lot  of  an  inventor — achieved,  before  he  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  his  first  single-handed  victory  over  such  discourage- 
ments. It  was  a  machine  for  automatically  weighing,  packing, 
stamping  and  labelling  smoking  tobacco.  It  did  not  revolutionize 
the  business,  but  it  introduced  a  new  method  into  the  manufacture 
of  tobacco  which,  upon  the  basis  of  the  present  production,  means 
an  economy  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  year.  The 
machine  itself  is  a  model  of  engineering  skill  and  mechanical  ac- 
curacy. 

In  the  first  place,  in  point  of  importance,  Mr.  Patterson's  resi- 


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RUFUS  LENOIR  PATTERSON,  Jr.  359 

dence  in  Durham  resulted  in  his  marriage  to  Miss  Margaret 
Morehead,  a  daughter  of  Eugene  Morehead  of  Durham,  and 
granddaughter  of  Governor  John  M.  Morehead.  This  marriage 
is  not  only  first  in  importance  among  the  results  of  Mr.  Patter- 
son's life  in  Durham,  but  it  is  first  in  importance  of  all  the  events 
in  his  life.  The  marriage  has  been  a  singularly  happy  one.  They 
have  two  children  and  their  home  is  delightful  in  a  genuine  South- 
ern way. 

Finally,  Mr.  Patterson's  residence  in  Durham  resulted  in  his 
becoming  known  to  the  controlling  spirits  of  the  American  To- 
bacco Company.  In  1898  he  was  employed  by  that  company  at 
its  New  York  office,  in  charge  not  only  of  the  packing  machine 
he  had  himself  invented,  but  of  all  its  machinery.  He  came  with 
the  American  Tobacco  Company,  having  already  the  high  regard 
of  its  officers,  and  he  has  constantly  advanced  in  their  esteem  and 
respect.  In  1900  he  became  the  secretary  of  the  company  and  one 
of  its  directors  and  was  in  charge  of  its  manufacturing.  It  is  to 
be  doubted  whether  at  that  time  there  was  in  the  United  States 
(and  certainly  there  was  nowhere  else  in  the  world)  any  other 
man  under  thirty  years  of  age  who  was  a  director  and  one  of  the 
real  and  working  executive  officers  of  any  of  the  great  industrial 
corporations,  owing  his  position  to  no  inheritance  and  to  no  large 
investment,  but  solely  to  his  own  ability  and  efficiency. 

While  Mr.  Patterson  was  for  a  time  in  charge  of  the  manufac- 
turing of  the  American  Tobacco  Company,  his  duties  always  re- 
lated peculiarly  to  the  machinery  of  the  company,  and  the  organ- 
ization and  equipment  of  its  factories.  With  the  enlargement  of 
the  business  of  the  company  consequent  upon  its  own  growth  and 
upon  its  consolidation  with  other  companies,  he  has  left  other  de- 
partments of  manufacturing  and  devotes  his  time  and  energy  ex- 
clusively to  the  matter  of  machinery  and  the  organization  and 
equipment  of  factories. 

Besides  being  a  director  and  one  of  the  workers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Tobacco  Company,  he  is  the  president  of  and  the  moving  and 
controlling  force  in  the  International  Cigar  Machinery  Company, 
a  corporation  of  $10,000,000  capital  stock;  Standard  Tobacco 


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36o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Stemmer  Company,  the  American  Machine  and  Foundry  Com- 
pany and  the  Automatic  Packing  and  Labelling  Company. 

Mr.  Patterson  has  shown  marked  ability  as  an  inventor.  His 
name  is  a  familiar  one  in  the  United  States  Patent  Office,  and 
much  of  the  machinery  now  in  use  by  the  American  Tobacco  Com- 
pany and  other  tobacco  manufacturing  establishments  is  the  re- 
sult of  his  initiative.  He  has,  however,  none  of  the  qualities  that 
are  popularly  assumed  to  characterize  an  inventor.  He  is  no  un- 
practical, unprosperous  dreamer  of  dreams,  but  an  intensely  prac- 
tical and  prosperous  doer  of  deeds.  He  has  a  well-developed 
sense  of  the  relative  importance  of  things.  His  relations  to 
matters  of  mechanics  and  machinery  have  given  him  an  ac- 
quaintance with  mechanical  engineers  all  over  the  country,  and 
when  there  arises  a  problem  whose  solution  is  important  from  a 
practical  standpoint,  and  whose  solution  his  own  practical  and 
trained  mind  tells  him  is  a  possible  thing,  he  recognizes  and  calls 
to  his  aid  the  man  best  fitted  to  work  out  the  details  of  the  solu- 
tion. His  duties  have  developed  a  talent  for  the  mechanical  part 
of  machinery,  and  they  have  also  developed  a  great  capacity  in 
business  life.  He  has  no  pride  of  invention,  and  is  quite  willing  to 
discard  a  machine  of  his  own  contrivance  when  shown  another 
that  will  do  the  work  better.  In  the  negotiation  of  contracts,  and 
in  outlining  a  business  policy,  he  is  microscopic  and  telescopic — 
no  detail  is  too  small  to  escape  his  consideration,  and  he  builds 
for  the  future  as  well  as  for  the  present, 

Junius  Parker, 


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WILLIAM    POLK 

JO  generals  of  North  Carolina  troops  in  the 
army  of  the  Revolution  were  wounded  unto 
death  in  battle — Francis  Nash  at  Germantown, 
Pennsylvania,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1777,  and 
William  Lee  Davidson  at  Cowan's  Ford,  North 
Carolina,  on  the  ist  of  February,  1781.  Far 
apart  as  these  battles  were,  both  in  time  and  place,  William  Polk 
served  with  marked  bravery  in  each,  being  major  of  the  Ninth 
North  Carolina  Continentals  under  Nash  and  an  officer  of  State 
volunteers  under  Davidson. 

Colonel  Polk  was  born  near  Charlotte,  in  the  county  of  Mecklen- 
burg, on  July  9,  1758.  He  was  a  son  of  the  noted  Revolutionary 
patriot,  Colonel  Thomas  Polk  (Fourth  North  Carolina  Continental 
Regiment)  and  his  wife,  Susan  Spratt. 

William  Polk  was  reared  in  the  county  of  his  birth.  He  was 
educated  first  in  preparatory  schools  and  then  at  Queen's  College, 
at  Charlotte.  He  was  seventeen  years  of  age  when  the  Revolu- 
tion began,  and  was  a  personal  witness  of  the  Mecklenburg  con- 
vention proceedings  in  May,  1775.  His  first  military  service  was 
in  April,  1775,  when  he  became  second  lieutenant  in  Captain 
Ezekiel  Polk's  company,  attached  to  the  Fourth  South  Carolina 
State  Regiment  of  mounted  infantry,  commanded  by  Colonel 
William  Thompson.  This  body  rendezvoused  at  York,  South 
Carolina,  and  marched  to  Ninety  Six,  a  meeting  place  of  the 


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362  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Tories.  From  there  the  detachment  first  proceeded  to  Dorchester 
and  then  to  Granby.  At  the  battle  of  Canebrake,  South  Carolina, 
December  22,  1775,  young  Polk  received  so  severe  a  wound  in  the 
left  shoulder  that  it  necessitated  his  temporary  retirement  from 
the  service.  He  never  fully  recovered  from  its  effects,  though  he 
re-entered  the  army  in  less  than  a  year.  During  his  service  as 
lieutenant  in  South  Carolina,  William  Polk  had  won  for  himself  so 
high  a  reputation  for  courage  and  good  conduct  that  his  native 
State  soon  called  him  to  a  more  important  command  in  the  regu- 
lars, his  election  as  major  of  the  Ninth  Regiment  of  North  Caro- 
lina troops  in  the  Continental  Line  taking  place  on  the  27th  of 
November,  1776.  The  Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina 
at  Halifax,  by  which  he  was  elected  to  this  post,  had  previously 
elected  John  Williams  of  Caswell  County  as  colonel  and  John 
Luttrell  as  lieutenant-colonel.  When  Polk  joined  his  regiment 
at  Halifax,  Colonel  Williams  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Luttrell  were 
absent,  and  the  chief  command  of  the  Ninth  Continentals  devolved 
upon  its  youthful  major.  Polk,  however,  fully  measured  up  to  the 
responsibilities  of  his  station.  At  the  time  he  reached  the  North 
Carolina  Brigade  it  was  on  the  march  northward,  but  at  Halifax 
was  stopped  by  a  countermanding  order  directing  its  course  south- 
ward to  prevent  the  British  from  entering  Georgia,  by  way  of 
St.  Augustine.  By  the  time  Charleston,  in  South  Carolina,  was 
reached,  another  order  stopped  their  march,  and  they  remained 
near  that  place  opposing  Sir  Henry  Clinton's  forces  until  the 
spring  of  the  following  year.  In  March,  1777,  the  North  Caro- 
linians again  marched  northward,  and  that  summer  effected  a 
junction  with  the  main  body  of  American  troops,  or  "grand  army," 
under  Washington  in  New  Jersey.  In  the  early  fall,  September  11, 
1777,  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine  took  place,  and  Major  Polk  was  in 
that  action.  He  was  also  present  at  the  battle  of  Germantown 
on  October  4,  1777,  being  there  severely  wounded  in  the  face  and 
temporarily  deprived  of  the  power  of  speech.  There,  too,  his 
brigade  commander.  General  Nash,  was  mortally  stricken,  while 
many  more  of  the  best  and  bravest  soldiers  sent  to  the  field  by 
North  Carolina  were  either  killed  or  wounded.     In  the  greater 


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WILLIAM  POLK  363 


part  of  the  fearful  winter  experiences  of  Valley  Forge,  1777-78, 
Major  Polk  was  also  a  participant. 

Having  been  thinned  out  by  the  fierce  battles  and  terrible  priva- 
tions through  which  they  had  passed,  the  North  Carolina  regi- 
ments were  consolidated  and  reduced  in  number  at  Valley  Forge 
in  January,  1778,  and  many  Continental  officers,  including  Major 
Polk,  were  thereby  thrown  out  of  the  service,  or  "omitted,"  as  the 
record  has  it.  Polk,  however,  determined  to  remain  in  the  service 
of  his  country,  and  returned  to  North  Carolina  on  recruiting  duty 
early  in  1778.  On  the  15th  of  August,  1778,  not  long  after  Major 
Polk's  return  to  North  Carolina,  the  State  Senate  passed  the 
following  resolution  relative  to  him : 

"Resolved,  That  Major  William  Polk  be  appointed  to  the  first  vacancy 
of  a  major  that  shall  happen  in  any  of  the  Continental  battalions  of  this 
State,  with  the  same  rank  he  heretofore  held  when  in  the  service  of  this 
State." 

In  this  resolution  the  House  of  Commons  refused  to  concur, 
possibly  thinking  it  unwise  to  interfere  with  the  regular  course  of 
promotions. 

On  August  16,  1780,  Major  Polk  served  as  an  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Richard  Caswell  in  the  disastrous  battle  of  Camden. 
When  the  troops  with  whom  he  was  there  serving  began  to  give 
ground,  Polk  made  his  way  to  the  North  Carolina  militia  brigade 
of  General  Isaac  Gregory  and  aided  that  officer  and  his  brave 
men  in  their  unequal  fight.  When  De  Kalb  was  killed  and  the 
rout  had  become  general,  Polk's  knowledge  of  the  country  enabled 
him  to  guide  a  considerable  number  of  troops  on  their  retreat  to 
North  Carolina.  Later  he  sought  employment  under  Genera! 
William  Lee  Davidson,  and  was  present  on  the  ist  of  February 
when  that  officer  was  slain  while  resisting  the  passage  of  Com- 
wallis  across  the  Catawba  River  at  Cowan's  Ford.  Robert  Henry, 
who  was  present,  in  his  narrative  says  that  when  Major  Polk 
returned  from  the  Ford  and  reported  the  death  of  General  David- 
son, some  of  the  American  forces  had  left  and  the  others  were  in 
gjeat  confusion;  so  Polk  prudently  marched  off  the  remainder. 


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364  NORTH  CAROLINA 

not  deeming  it  wise  to  renew  the  attack  at  that  time.  Some  months 
later,  while  he  was  still  without  a  command,  Polk  fought  as  a 
volunteer  officer  at  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House  on 
March  15,  1781. 

Shortly  afterward  Major  Polk  was  commissioned  lieutenant- 
colonel  commandant  of  the  Fourth  South  Carolina  Regiment  of 
horse  by  Governor  John  Rutledge  of  that  State,  and  later  had 
command  of  the  Third  Regiment  of  South  Carolina  cavalry.  He 
first  reported  for  duty  to  General  Thomas  Sumter,  later  serving 
under  General  William  Henderson.  In  conjunction  with  the 
regiment  of  Colonel  Wade  Hampton,  grandfather  of  General 
Wade  Hampton  of  the  Confederate  army,  Polk's  regiment,  the 
Fourth,  made  a  forced  march  and  captured  the  outlying  garrison 
of  Tories  on  the  Congaree,  killing  twenty-seven  and  burning  their 
block-house.  Returning  to  General  Sumter,  he  was  next  in  the 
assault  on  Orangeburg  (May  11,.  1781),  which  resulted  in  its 
capture.  In  the  successful  attack  on  Fort  Motte,  May  12th,  his 
regiment  probably  participated  also,  and  likewise  contributed  to 
the  taking  of  Fort  Granby  on  the  15th,  three  days  later. 

At  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  on  September  8,  1781,  Colonel 
Polk's  horse  was  killed  under  him,  and  there  his  younger  brother, 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Polk,  was  slain.  Samuel  Chappelle,  a  soldier 
who  returned  to  Wake  County  after  the  Revolution,  witnessed 
the  fall  of  Lieutenant  Polk.  When  Colonel  Polk  saw  his  brother's 
corpse,  said  Chappelle,  he  first  gave  way  to  an  outburst  of  g^ef , 
but  almost  immediately  regained  self-control  and  detailed  two 
men  to  bury  the  remains,  after  which  he  rode  off  in  hot  pursuit  of 
the  enemy.  In  speaking  of  the  affair  of  Eutaw,  Chappelle  said  it 
was  the  most  fiercely  contested  field  he  had  ever  witnessed,  though 
he  had  fought  at  Brandywine,  Stony  Point  and  Guilford  Court 
House,  as  well  as  in  other  g^eat  battles.  Polk  himself,  in  speaking 
of  one  volley  directed  at  the  Americans,  said  he  thought  at  first 
that  every  man  had  been  killed  but  himself.  The  bravery  of 
Colonel  Polk  at  Eutaw  won  special  mention  from  General  Greene, 
who  wrote :  "Lieutenant-Colonels  Polk  and  Middleton  were  no  less 
conspicuous  for  their  good  conduct  than  their  intrepidity,  and  the 


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WILLIAM  POLK  365 


troops  under  their  command  gave  a  specimen  of  what  may  be 
expected  from  men  naturally  brave  when  improved  by  proper 
discipline." 

After  the  battle  of  Eutaw,  Colonel  Polk  figured  conspicuously 
in  the  partizan  warfare  of  South  Carolina,  and  returned  to  his 
native  State  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  In  1783  he  aided  in 
founding  the  North  Carolina  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  is  now 
represented  therein  by  one  of  his  descendants. 

On  October  15,  1789,  Colonel  Polk  married  his  first  wife, 
Grizelle  Gilchrist,  daughter  of  Thomas  Gilchrist  and  grand- 
daughter of  Robert  Jones,  Jr.  (or  '*Robin''  Jones),  colonial 
attorney-general  under  Governors  Dobbs  and  Tryon.  This  first 
wife  was  bom  in  Suffolk,  Virginia,  October  24,  1768,  and  died 
in  1799,  leaving  two  sons,  as  follows:  Thomas  Gilchrist  Polk, 
general  of  militia,  bom  at  Charlotte,  February  21,  1791,  who 
married  Mary  Trotter  of  Salisbury,  and  left  descendants.  He 
died  in  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi,  in  1869.  The  other  son  was 
William  Julius  Polk,  M.D.,  bom  at  Charlotte,  March  21,  1793, 
who  married  his  cousin,  Mary  Long,  daughter  of  Lunsford  Long 
and  granddaughter  of  General  Allen  Jones.  Dr.  W.  J.  Polk  has 
many  descendants  now  living.  One  of  his  sons  was  the  late 
Brigadier-General  Lucius  Eugene  Polk,  C.S.A. 

About  the  year  1800  Colonel  William  Polk  became  a  resident  of 
the  city  of  Raleigh.  In  Warren  County,  on  the  ist  of  January, 
1801,  he  was  married  to  his  second  wife,  Sarah  Hawkins,  daughter 
of  Colonel  Philemon  Hawkins,  Jr.,  and  granddaughter  of  Colonel 
Philemon  Hawkins,  Sr.,  both  of  the  two  last  named  having  been 
Revolutionary  patriots.  Among  the  children  of  this  latter 
marriage  were  Lucius  Junius  Polk,  who  married  Mary  Ann 
Easton  in  the  White  House  during  President  Jackson's  admin- 
istration ;  Leonidas  Polk,  bishop  of  Louisiana  and  lieutenant-gen- 
eral in  the  Confederate  army,  bom  at  Raleigh,  April  10,  1806, 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Pine  Mountain,  June  14,  1864.  He  married 
Frances  Devereux  and  left  descendants :  Mary  Brown  Polk,  who 
became  the  second  wife  of  George  E.  Badger ;  Rufus  King  Polk, 
who  married   Sarah   Jackson;   George  Washington   Polk,   who 


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366  NORTH  CAROLINA 

married  SalUe  HilHard ;  Susan  Spratt  Polk,  who  married  Kenneth 
Rayner;  and  Andrew  Jackson  Polk,  who  married  Rebecca 
Van  Leer.    All  of  these  children  left  descendants. 

We  now  recur  to  our  sketch  of  the  life  of  Colonel  William 
Polk  of  the  Revolution.  After  the  war  he  was  often  in  public  life. 
Being  elected  surveyor-general  of  that  part  of  North  Carolina 
which  is  now  the  State  of  Tennessee,  he  lived  for  a  while  at 
Nashville;  and  in  1786,  prior  to  the  erection  of  Tennessee  into  a 
separate  State,  he  represented  Davidson  County  (in  which  Nash- 
ville is  situated)  in  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina. 
Colonel  Polk  also  represented  his  native  county  of  Mecklenburg 
in  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Commons  in  1787,  1790  and  1791. 
In  1 79 1  he  was  a  candidate  for  speaker,  but  was  defeated  by 
Stephen  Cabarrus.  Having  been  appointed  supervisor  or  col- 
lector of  internal  revenue  for  the  district  of  North  Carolina 
on  March  4,  1791,  Colonel  Polk  held  that  post  for  seventeen 
years. 

Colonel  Polk  was  an  active  promoter  of  education.  While  in 
Tennessee  he  was  a  trustee  of  Davidson  Academy  at  Nashville, 
and  on  his  removal  from  that  place  his  position  on  the  board  was 
filled  by  the  election  thereto  of  his  friend,  Andrew  Jackson,  after- 
ward President.  Colonel  Polk  was  also  one  of  the  trustees  of 
the  academy  at  Raleigh  after  his  settlement  in  that  city.  From 
1792  till  his  death  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  president  of  that  board 
from  1802  to  1805.  There  is  a  tablet  to  his  memory  in  Memorial 
Hall  at  the  University.  From  December  4,  1799,  till  December  12, 
1802,  he  was  Grand  Master  of  the  "Grand  Lodge  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  Tennessee"  when  these  two  States  formed  one  Masonic 
jurisdiction.  In  the  hall  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  North  Carolina 
now  hangs  an  oil  portrait  of  him.  For  a  number  of  years,  181 1  to 
1819,  he  was  president  of  the  State  Bank  at  Raleigh.  When  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain  came  on.  President  Madison  offered 
Colonel  Polk  a  commission  as  brigadier-general  in  the  United 
States  army  on  March  25,  181 2.  Being  a  Federalist,  and  having* 
opposed  the  declaration  of  war,  Polk  declined.    Later,  when  de- 


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WILLIAM  POLK  367 


grading  conditions  were  demanded  by  Great  Britain  as  a  price  of 
peace,  the  colonel  wrote  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  Governor 
William  Hawkins,  tendering  his  services  to  the  State  of  North 
Carolina  in  any  station  which  the  governor  might  designate.  A 
copy  of  this  letter  will  be  found  in  Niles's  Weekly  Register  for 
October  29,  1814,  page  125. 

When  Canova's  statue  of  Washington  (afterward  destroyed  by 
fire  with  the  old  Capitol)  reached  Raleigh  on  the  24th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1 82 1,  Colonel  Polk  delivered  an  address  on  the  character  of 
Washington,  which  is  reprinted  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly 
(Durham,  North  Carolina)  for  July,  1902,  pages  281-283. 

Colonel  Polk  also  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  reception  of 
General  Lalfayette,  when  the  latter  came  on  his  visit  to  North 
Carolina  in  1825.  An  illustrated  account  of  this  visit,  containing 
a  picture  of  the  old  Polk  residence  in  Raleigh,  is  given  in  the 
American  Historical  Register  (Boston)  for  May,  1897,  page  177. 
Some  other  illustrations  concerning  the  Polk  family  will  be  found 
in  Munseys  Magazine,  Vol.  XVI.,  page  397  et  seq. 

The  death  of  Colonel  Polk  occurred  in  Raleigh  on  the  14th  of 
January,  1834,  and  he  is  buried  in  the  old  cemetery  which  forms 
the  eastern  terminus  of  Morgan  Street.  A  heavy  granite  monu- 
ment marks  his  resting  place.  In  1855,  niany  years  after  his  death, 
the  legislature  of  North  Carolina  named  a  county  in  honor  of 
Colonel  Polk.  There  are  also  towns  of  Polk,  Polkton  and  Polk- 
ville  in  North  Carolina,  while  in  Tennessee  is  likewise  the  town 
of  Polk  as  well  as  Polk  County.  Most  of  the  numerous  counties, 
towns,  townships,  etc.,  of  Polk  which  are  scattered  throughout 
the  United  States  are  named  in  honor  of  President  James  K.  Polk, 
the  colonel's  kinsman. 

The  Raleigh  Register  of  January  21,  1834,  gives  an  account 
of  the  imposing  funeral  ceremonies  over  the  remains  of  Colonel 
Polk,  and  in  its  obituary  column  contains  a  sketch  of  his  life,  from 
which  we  extract  the  following:  "Colonel  Polk  was  at  his  death 
the  sole  surviving  field  officer  of  the  North  Carolina  Line;  and 
it  will  be  no  disparagement  to  the  illustrious  dead  to  say  that  no 
one  of  his  compatriots  manifested  a  deeper  or  more  ardent  devo- 


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368 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


tion  to  the  cause  of  his  country ;  that  in  her  service  no  oflficcr  more 
gallantly  exposed  his  life  or  more  cheerfully  endured  privatioa 
and  suffering,  and  that  no  one  of  his  rank  in  the  army  contributed 
more  by  his  personal  services  to  bring  that  glorious  contest  to  a 
successful  termination." 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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JOHN    PORTER 

fR.  WEEKS,  in  his  interesting  "History  of  the 
Quakers  of  Albemarle,"  mentions  John 
Porter,  Sr.,  as  living  in  Norfolk  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1647,  and  as  being  expelled  from  the 
House  of  Burgesses  on  September  12,  1663. 
This  expulsion  was  because  Porter  refused  to 
take  the  oath  as  tendered,  but  he  was  also  declared  an  Anabaptist, 
not  holding  to  infant  baptism,  and  as  in  sympathy  with  the 
Quakers.  In  1672  he  was  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Quorum  for 
Norfolk  County,  and  served  as  such,  presiding  over  the  court  until 
his  death  in  1675.  I"  his  will  he  left  property  "to  my  brother, 
John  Porter,  Jr."  This  John  Porter,  Jr.,  was  a  justice  of  the 
County  Court  in  March,  1655,  at  the  same  time  as  John  Porter,  Sr. 
He  was  high  sheriff  in  1656.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
John  Sidney,  the  most  considerable  gentleman  of  that  county.  He 
died  in  Prince  Anne  County,  Virginia. 

This  John  Porter,  Jr.,  had  a  son,  John  Porter,  who  was  both 
a  planter  and  a  merchant,  and  who,  in  1688,  bought  400  acres 
of  land  near  the  Currituck  line,  and  from  there  he  removed  to 
North  Carolina  between  1690  and  1693.  In  1694  he  appears  as 
attorney-general  of  North  Carolina;  and  Dr.  Weeks  mentions 
him  as  speaker  of  the  Assembly  in  1697,  and  from  that  time 
onward  he  exerted  a  considerable  influence  on  the  affairs  of  the 
province. 


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370  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  1703  he  was  one  of  the  Council  of  which  William  Glover  was 
the  president.  It  was  about  that  time  that  Lord  Granville,  the 
most  important  of  the  Lords  Proprietors,  undertook  to  enforce 
in  the  two  Carolinas  the  act  of  the  British  Parliament  requiring  all 
officers  to  take  certain  oaths  of  office,  which  operated  to  deprive 
the  Quakers  of  their  right  to  hold  oflSce.  While  originally  no 
Quakers  had  settled  in  Albemarle,  yet  the  freedom  of  conscience 
allowed  by  the  concessions  to  the  settlers,  which  formed  the  basis 
of  their  constitutional  rights,  attracted  the  Friends  to  that  region, 
and  the  preaching  of  Fox  and  Edmundson  some  ten  years  after 
the  settlement  had  well  introduced  their  tenets,  and  that  sect  had 
grown  until  it  numbered  a  considerable  part  of  the  population, 
especially  in  Perquimans  and  Pasquotank  precincts. 

The  year  1700  was  a  year  of  jubilee,  and  was  marked  by  a  great 
religious  revival  among  the  English-speaking  people,  and  in  Albe- 
marle an  act  was  passed  providing  for  the  erection  of  church 
buildings,  the  collection  of  tithes  and  the  payment  of  public 
moneys  to  support  a  ministry,  which  met  with  strong  opposition 
from  the  Quakers  and  others  not  in  conformity  with  the  Elstab- 
Hshed  Church ;  but  that  act  fell  because  it  was  not  confirmed  by 
the  Lords  Proprietors.  King  William  died  in  1702,  and  at  the 
succeeding  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  oaths  of  allegiance 
to  Queen  Anne  were  tendered,  and  all  officers  who  would  not  take 
them  were  displaced.  A  majority  of  the  Assembly  were  Quakers, 
and  by  this  means  their  places  were  declared  vacant,  and  Governor 
Daniel  obtained  full  control  in  the  colony.  He  caused  a  law  to 
be  enacted  establishing  the  Church  of  England  and  another  pre- 
scribing an  oath  to  be  taken  by  way  of  qualifying  members  of  the 
General  Assembly.  This  subversion  of  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  Quakers  to  hold  office,  which  they  had  enjoyed  unquestioned 
for  a  generation,  resulted  in  a  great  civil  commotion.  Similar  pro- 
ceedings in  South  Carolina  had  led  to  the  sending  of  John  Ashe  as 
an  agent  of  the  Dissenters  to  England  to  seek  a  redress  of  g^ev- 
ances ;  and  John  Porter  sent  his  son  Edmund  along  with  Ashe  to 
represent  the  affairs  of  the  Albemarle  colony,  and  an  order  was 
obtained  suspending  Governor  Daniel.     Governor  Johnson,  in 


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JOHN  PORTER  371 


South  Carolina,  now  appointed  Thomas  Cary  as  deputy  governor 
of  North  Carolina,  but  Cary  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Daniel 
and  again  purged  the  Assembly  of  its  Quaker  members,  and  caused 
an  act  to  be  passed  imposing  a  fine  on  any  person  who  should  enter 
into  an  office  before  taking  the  oath  prescribed,  and  another  de- 
claring void  the  election  of  any  person  who  should  promote  his 
own  candidacy.  John  Porter  himself  now  went  to  England,  and 
returned  with  a  commission  for  settling  the  government,  by  which 
the  laws  imposing  the  oaths  were  suspended ;  and  he  also  brought 
an  order  suspending  Cary  as  governor,  and  vesting  the  powers  of 
governor  in  the  president  of  the  Council ;  and  he  had  new  deputa- 
tions from  the  Lords  Proprietors  appointing  other  deputies,  the 
majority  of  whom,  it  is  stated,  were  Quakers. 

His  mission  was  entirely  successful.  On  his  return  he  found 
that  Cary  had  gone  to  South  Carolina  and  William  Glover  was 
acting  as  president  of  the  Council.  There  were  some  commotions, 
and  in  July,  1708,  the  new  Council  met  and,  notwithstanding  the 
order  removing  Cary,  as  he  now  sided  with  Porter,  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  Council,  although  Glover  claimed  to  exercise  the 
functions  of  governor;  and  there  were  two  governments,  each 
claiming  to  be  regular  and  lawful,  and  each  proclaiming  their 
opponents  to  be  rebels  and  traitors.  Under  these  circumstances 
an  agreement  was  reached  by  the  Glover  faction  and  the  Cary  and 
Porter  faction  to  submit  the  matter  to  the  Assembly,  and  each 
government  issued  its  separate  writ  for  an  election  to  be  held  on 
the  3d  of  October,  1708.  The  Porter  faction  carried  the  day,  and 
although  Glover  and  Pollock  protested  that  the  members  should 
take  the  oaths,  which  would  purge  the  body  of  the  Quakers,  that 
was  not  done  by  the  Assembly,  which  was  under  Quaker  control. 
Glover  and  Pollock  thereupon  fled  to  Virginia,  and  Cary,  Porter 
and  Edward  Moseley,  the  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  and  their 
adherents  administered  the  government  for  two  years,  the  affairs 
of  Albemarle  being  orderly  transacted,  the  courts  held  and  the 
laws  enforced;  and  during  that  period  there  was  a  considerable 
addition  to  the  population,  especially  in  Bath  County.  In  August, 
1710,  Edward  Hyde,  a  cousin  to  the  Queen,  reached  Virginia, 


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372  NORTH  CAROLINA 

expecting  to  receive  there  his  commission  as  deputy  governor  of 
North  Carolina,  but  Governor  Tinte,  at  Charleston,  who  was  to 
send  him  his  commission,  died  without  doing  so.  Both  parties  in 
Albemarle,  however,  invited  Colonel  Hyde  to  take  the  administra- 
tion as  president  of  the  Council.  An  Assembly  was  called,  which, 
under  Hyde's  influence,  would  not  permit  the  Quakers  to  sit  in  the 
body,  and  strong  ground  was  taken  against  the  Porter  and  Cary 
faction,  which  now  withdrew  their  adherence  and  declared  that 
Hyde,  having  no  commission,  was  not  a  legal  governor.  The  new 
Assembly,  on  the  other  hand,  charged  Cary  and  Porter  with  being 
gitilty  of  sedition,  and  impeached  them  for  high  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors. They  escaped,  however,  and  raised  a  revolt,  and 
having  a  large  force  that  was  armed  with  munitions  brought  in 
by  Captain  Roach,  an  agent  of  Danson,  one  of  the  Lords  Pro- 
prietors, who,  like  Cary,  was  closely  connected  with  Governor 
Archdale,  proceeded  to  make  war  on  Hyde  and  his  faction.  On 
the  morning  of  June  30,  171 1,  the  Cary  forces  approached  Colonel 
Pollock's  house,  and  a  conflict  was  imminent.  But  some  uniforms 
were  discerned  among  Hyde's  forces  that  led  to  the  belief  that  he 
had  secured  a  reinforcement  of  British  soldiers  from  Virginia,  and 
Cary  thought  it  a  serious  matter  to  make  war  on  British  troops, 
so  his  forces  were  at  once  dispersed.  Shortly  afterward  Cary 
and  Porter  and  several  of  their  most  active  supporters  proceeded 
to  Virginia  to  take  shipping  for  England,  but  were  there  seized 
by  Governor  Spottswood  and  were  sent  to  England  on  board  a 
man-of-war  under  charges  of  rebellion  and  sedition.  They  arrived 
in  London  on  September  25th,  but  there  being  no  evidence  pro- 
duced against  them,  were  discharged  from  arrest.  John  Porter 
died  a  few  months  later  at  Bridgewater,  in  England. 

Thus  ended,  after  a  period  of  ten  years  of  constant  struggle,  the 
effort  to  perpetuate  the  constitutional  right  of  the  Quakers  to  hold 
office  in  North  Carolina  by  subscribing  an  affirmation  in  lieu  of 
taking  oaths  of  office  in  common  form.  During  the  few  days  that 
intervened  after  the  dispersal  of  Gary's  forces  and  Porter's  appear- 
ance in  Virginia  to  take  shipping  for  England,  it  was  said  by  some 
of  his  opponents  that  he  went  among  the  Tuscaroras  near  the  Vir- 


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JOHN  PORTER  373 


ginia  line  and  sought  to  incite  them  to  hostilities  against  the  Hyde 
faction,  and  some  historians  have  ascribed  the  massacre  of  the 
I  ith  of  September,  171 1,  to  this  action  on  his  part.  It  is  to  be  said, 
however,  that  those  Tuscaroras,  according  to  the  contemporaneous 
accounts,  rejected  his  overtures,  and  did  not  participate  in  the 
massacre  and  subsequent  Indian  War ;  and  G>lonel  Pollock,  in  his 
accoimt  of  that  horrible  affair,  gives  substantial  and  natural 
reasons  for  the  Indian  outbreak,  that  do  not  implicate  Porter 
in  it.  Porter  had  been  absent  from  the  colony  more  than  a  month 
before  the  massacre  occurred,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  caused  by 
the  encroachment  on  the  Indian  territories  along  the  Neuse  and 
Pamlico  rivers.  Porter's  youngest  son,  John  Porter,  who  had 
married  Miss  Lillington,  and  his  daughter  Sarah,  who  had  married 
John  Lillington,  and  Dr.  Maule,  who  had  married  one  of  his 
daughters,  all  lived  in  the  region  where  the  massacre  occurred, 
and  he  could  not  have  contemplated  involving  his  own  family  in 
such  a  terrible  destruction.  In  the  succeeding  generations  Porter's 
descendants  have  been  among  the  foremost  men  of  North  Caro- 
lina. He  was  a  successful  business  man,  among  the  wealthiest  of 
his  community,  a  man  of  force  and  power,  of  energy  and  influ- 
ence. While  sympathizing  with  the  Quakers,  and,  like  Edward 
Moseley,  espousing  their  cause  against  the  attempt  to  deprive 
them  of  the  rights  they  had  enjoyed  in  the  colony  for  thirty  or 
forty  years,  he  was  apparently  not  opposed  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Church  of  England,  for  he  took  the  contract  for  the  erection 
of  the  first  church  that  was  built  in  the  colony.  His  action  in 
behalf  of  the  Quakers  seems  to  have  been  founded  on  his  deter- 
mination to  uphold  justice  and  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
citizens. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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ROBERT   PAYNE   RICHARDSON.  Jr. 

fOBERT  PAYNE  RICHARDSON,  Jr.,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  bom  near  Reids- 
ville,  Rockingham  County,  North  Carolina, 
March  28,  1855,  and  is  descended  from  a  long 
line  of  ancestors,  who  were  conspicuous  for 
their  splendid  virtues,  sterling  qualities  and  sue* 
cessful  business  enterprises. 

Mr.  Richardson  is  the  oldest  son  of  Robert  Payne  Richard- 
son, Sr.,  and  Mary  Elizabeth  Watlington,  both  of  whom  were 
bom  in  Caswell  County,  North  Carolina.  His  father,  Robert  P. 
Richardson,  Sr.,  was  born  December  2,  1820,  and  is  still  vigorous 
and  active  in  his  old  age,  and  displays  that  same  wonderful 
energy,  industry  and  will-power  which  characterized  him  as  a 
young  man  of  marked  ability  and  great  business  success  and  enter- 
prise. His  mother,  Mary  E.  Watlington,  was  born  February  4, 
1827,  and  died  M^rch  18,  1903.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong  and 
decided  Christian  traits  of  character.  She  was  as  gentle  and  as 
modest  as  a  lamb,  and  yet  she  was  as  strong  and  as  firm  as  a  rock 
in  her  convictions  of  duty  and  principles  of  righteousness.  She 
adomed  in  a  high  degree  all  the  beautiful  graces  of  Christianity 
and  of  noble  womanhood,  and  she  did  it  in  a  manner  peculiar  to 
herself,  which  was  at  once  both  winning  and  convincing  as  to  the 
lofty  aims  and  noble  purposes  for  which  she  lived.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  James  Watlington  and  Jane  Scott  of  Caswell  County, 


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TK2  NEW  YORK 
PlibUC  LIBRARY 


A^Mf  H,  LENOX  AND 

lli-ULN  FOUNDATIONS 


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ROBERT  PAYNE  RICHARDSON,  Jr.  375 

North  Carolina,  who  traced  their  respective  lineage  to  prominent 
English  and  Scotch  origin.  The  Richardson  family  are  of  English 
descent,  and  they  trace  their  ancestry  in  this  country  back  to  the 
early  settlements  on  the  James  River  in  Virginia.  The  parents  of 
Robert  P.  Richardson,  Sr.,  and  therefore  the  grandparents  of 
Robert  P.  Richardson,  Jr.,  were  James  Richardson  and  Anne 
Payne  Ware.  This  lady,  the  grandmother  of  Robert  P.  Richard- 
son, Jr.,  was  the  daughter  of  William  Ware  and  Susan  Payne, 
and  the  name  "Payne"  has  been  perpetuated  in  this  branch  of  the 
Richardson  family  from  her  day  until  the  present  time.  A  sister 
of  Susan  Payne,  whose  name  was  Agnes,  married  Marmaduke 
Williams  of  Caswell  County,  North  Carolina,  a  man  of  prominence 
and  great  influence  in  North  Carolina  from  1802  to  1810,  when 
he  removed  to  Alabama,  where  he  continued  his  career  of  useful- 
ness until  his  death. 

The  paternal  great-grandparents  of  Robert  P.  Richardson,  Jr., 
were  James  Richardson  and  Francis  Harrison,  who  resided  at 
Red  Walnut,  in  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  the  latter  a  daughter 
of  William  Harrison  of  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  of  the  same  blood  of  Benjamin  Harrison,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Anne  Payne  Ware,  the  grandmother  of  Robert  P.  Richard- 
son, Jr.,  was  a  second  cousin  to  Dorothy  Payne  Todd-Madison, 
known  to  fame  as  "Dolly  Madison,"  and  is  said  to  have  been  a 
most  remarkable  woman.  She  was  noted  for  her  great  strength 
of  character,  her  untiring  energy,  indomitable  will  and  persistent 
industry.  She  died,  at  an  advanced  age,  on  a  railroad  car  while 
going  to  Mississippi  to  visit  her  son.  She  was  twice  married: 
first  to  James  Richardson,  by  whom  she  had  seven  children — 
William,  James,  Edmund,  Robert  P.,  Susan,  Mary  and  Elizabeth ; 
and  again  to  Stephen  Sergeant,  by  whom  she  had  two  daughters — 
Margaret  and  Agnes — ^who  married,  respectively.  General  James 
K.  hoz  and  Dr.  Joseph  Stanfield.  Her  son  Edmund  Richardson,  a 
brother  of  Robert  P.  Richardson,  Sr.,  accumulated  a  large  fortune 
in  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  and  at  one  time  he  was  reputed  to  be 
the  very  largest  cotton  planter  in  the  world.    Her  son  Robert  P. 


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376  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Richardson,  Sr.,  was  also  twice  married:  first  to  Elizabeth  N. 
Wright,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters,  two  of  whom,  Sallie 
and  Belle,  married  Colonel  A.  J.  Boyd,  and  the  third,  Bettie, 
married  Captain  A.  E.  Walters  of  Virginia;  and  by  the  second 
marriage,  to  Miss  Watlington,  there  were  four  children — Robert 
Payne,  subject  of  this  sketch;  Edmund  E.,  Anna  J.,  who  married 
E.  M.  Redd,  and  Marion  Scott,  who  married  W.  P.  Watt. 

Robert  P.  Richardson,  Jr.,  like  his  father  and  his  grandmother, 
has  also  been  twice  married :  first  to  Miss  Bettie  Watt,  by  whom 
he  has  one  son,  Pinkney  Watt  Richardson;  and  again,  to  Miss 
Margaret  M.  Watt,  by  whom  he  has  two  living  children — Robert 
Payne,  the  third,  and  Margaret  Elizabeth,  and  one  dead,  the  eldest, 
Sarah  Dillard.  He  was  married  to  his  first  wife  October  30,  1877, 
and  she  died  August  30,  1882.  He  was  married  to  his  second 
wife  December  20,  1892,  and  she  still  lives  to  bless  his  household. 
Both  these  ladies  have  been  noted  for  their  personal  beauty, 
culture  and  refined  womanly  qualities.  The  childhood  of  Mr. 
Richardson  was  spent  at  the  quiet  old  homestead,  under  the  watch- 
ful eyes  of  devoted  parents,  and  in  attending  the  best  schools  the 
neighborhood  and  Reidsville  then  afforded.  In  after  years  he 
attended  the  high  schools  at  Wentworth,  North  Carolina,  the 
Rock  House  Academy,  and  at  Melville,  North  Carolina,  under 
the  renowned  teacher  of  his  day,  Dr.  Alexander  Wilson;  and 
in  1872  he  was  student  in  the  famous  Bingham  School  at  Mebane- 
ville.  North  Carolina.  In  1873  Mr.  Richardson  began  his  business 
career  as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  store  and  as  a  partner  in  the 
business.  His  father  at  that  time  was  a  manufacturer,  a  merchant 
and  a  farmer,  and  it  was  characteristic  of  him  to  be  very  strict 
in  his  requirements  of  his  son,  and  in  a  large  degree  to  dominate 
the  entire  business.  He  required  all  who  were  about  him  to  con- 
form in  a  large  measure  to  his  own  personal  ideas  and  rules,  and 
this  characteristic  applied  to  Sunday  as  well  as  Monday,  for  on 
Sunday  he  was  always  found  promptly  at  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  he  strictly  required  his  family  to  be  there,  "rain  or 
shine,"  and  tliis  rule  is  still  adhered  to  by  him  personally  in  his 
old  age. 


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ROBERT  PAYNE  RICHARDSON,  Jr.  377 

But  the  son  inherited  the  same  independent  spirit  and  desire 
to  be  his  own  master,  and  rebelled  against  the  confinement  and 
limitations  on  his  business  freedom  which  were  necessary  in  con- 
nection with  his  father's  store,  consequently  he  withdrew  from 
this  mercantile  association,  and  spent  a  short  time  in  the  South 
in  connection  with  his  father's  tobacco  business.  Returning  in 
1877,  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  smoking  tobacco,  adopt- 
ing as  the  nucleus  of  his  business  the  "Old  North  State"  brand, 
which  his  father  had  originated  and  put  upon  the  market  in  the 
year  1873,  but  at  this  time  had  decided  to  abandon.  This  busi- 
ness has  continued,  under  the  style  of  "R.  P.  Richardson,  Jr.,  & 
Co.,"  with,  from  time  to  time,  slight  changes  in  the  personnel 
of  the  firm,  but  at  all  times  dominated  in  its  policy  and  manage- 
ment by  Mr.  Richardson,  with  a  constant  growth  in  volume, 
until  at  the  present  time  it  has  assumed  large  proportions,  and 
has  made  the  "Old  North  State"  brand  of  smoking  tobacco  famous 
throughout  the  South. 

Mr.  Richardson  began  his  career  as  a  smoking  tobacco  manu- 
facturer under  conditions  difficult  to  overcome,  and  such  as  were 
calculated  to  discourage  a  man  lacking  in  patient  perseverance  and 
persistent  determination  to  win  success.  While  Reidsville's 
tobacco  manufacturers  had  won  more  or  less  popularity  for  the 
town  as  a  source  of  the  various  manufactured  forms  of  chewing 
tobacco,  he  was  its  pioneer  in  the  line  of  smoking  tobacco.  It 
was  a  very  difficult  matter  to  attract  the  attention  of  a  smoker 
to  any  brand  of  smoking  tobacco  which  did  not  emanate  from 
Durham,  North  Carolina,  which  then,  as  now,  was  perhaps  the 
most  widely  advertised  town  in  existence  in  relation  to  any  one 
article  of  commerce.  This  advertisement  had  its  origin  largely  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  when  and  where  two  armies  were  dis- 
banded, and,  returning  to  their  homes,  they  sang  the  praises  of 
the  tobacco  manufactured  at  Durham  throughout  the  whole 
country.  Afterward  the  very  name  "Durham"  became  practically 
a  synonym  for  smoking  tobacco.  The  consequent  prejudice  which 
had  to  be  met  and  overcome  is  difficult  to  conceive  or  believe. 

Mr.  Richardson  was  a  young  man  scarcely  past  his  majority. 


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378  NORTH  CAROLINA 

with  but  little  and  imperfect  business  training  and  less  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  commercial  world. 

He  possessed  very  limited  means  of  his  own,  and  his  father,  hav- 
ing suffered  heavily  in  the  panic  of  1873  and  the  succeeding  years 
of  business  depression,  was  so  embarrassed  financially  as  precluded 
his  rendering  him  such  assistance  as  he  would  otherwise  have 
willingly  given. 

At  this  time,  and  for  some  years  later,  there  was  no  bank  in 
Reidsville,  nor  in  his  county,  and  it  was  necessary  for  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson to  accommodate  himself  and  his  business  to  such  banking 
facilities  as  he  could  command  in  towns  more  or  less  remote* 
The  factory  and  equipment  employed  in  manufacturing  his 
product  were  necessarily  of  the  rudest  and  cheapest  construction. 
Undaunted  by  these  conditions,  Mr.  Richardson  put  his  hands 
to  the  plow,  with  confidence  in  the  principles  declared  by  him  in 
response  to  the  question,  "From  your  own  experience  and  observa- 
tion, will  you  offer  any  suggestions  to  young  Americans  as  to  the 
principles,  methods  and  habits  which  you  believe  will  contribute 
most  to  the  strengthening  of  sound  ideals  in  our  American  life, 
and  will  most  help  young  people  to  attain  true  success  in  life?" 

He  answered,  "I  cannot  offer  better  advice  to  young  men  than 
to  quote  from  the  Great  Counsellor's  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  'Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  I  know  of  no  safer  rule,  either 
from  experience  or  from  observation,  for  the  guidance  of  men  to 
really  successful  achievement  than  that  of  strict  adherence  to  those 
fundamental  principles  of  conduct  evolved  from  a  proper  realiza- 
tion, appreciation  and  acknowledgment  of  one's  personal  obliga- 
tion to  God.  The  blush  of  diffidence  with  which  this  advice  is 
submitted  arises  not  from  a  doubt  of  the  wisdom  or  efficacy  of 
the  precept,  but  from  a  consciousness  of  my  own  grievous  short- 
comings in  its  exemplification."  By  the  daily  and  persistent 
application  of  these  principles  in  business  method  and  purpose,  he 
slowly  but  steadily  overcame  the  prejudice  which  decreed  that 
Reidsville  could  not  offer  as  good  smoking  tobacco  as  Durham 
or  any  other  market  to  such  extent  that  now  every  tobacco 


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ROBERT  PAYNE  RICHARDSON,  Jr.  379 

manufacturing  establishment  in  Reidsville  not  only  has  one  or 
more  brands  of  smoking  tobacco,  but  regards  it  as  of  so  much 
importance  as  to  make  this  branch  a  leading  specialty  in  its  busi- 
ness, and  Reidsville  now  claims  to  rank  second  only  to  Durham 
in  the  quantity  of  its  output  of  high-grade  smoking  tobacco.  He 
has,  by  his  strict  business  integrity  and  careful  promptness  in 
meeting  his  business' obligations,  created,  aside  from  the  compe- 
tence he  has  accumulated,  a  financial  credit  ample  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  any  reasonable  enterprise  he  might  undertake. 

The  factory  in  which  he  began  his  career  has  long  since  given 
place  to  a  beautiful  structure,  massive  and  symmetrical,  equipped 
throughout  with  the  most  modem  and  approved  machinery.  Mr. 
Richardson  is  a  gentleman  endowed  with  splendid  physique  and 
mental  powers.  He  is  quiet,  modest  and  temperate  in  his  manner 
and  habits,  and  makes  no  pretensions  to  public  speaking,  but  he 
understands  and  knows  men.  He  has  justly  won  the  reputation  of 
a  "man  of  mark"  in  North  Carolina,  not  only  because  he  has 
built  up  a  large  business  from  a  small  beginning,  but  because  of 
the  means  and  principles  through  which  he  did  it,  which  means 
and  principles  must  ever  be  recognized  as  the  true  secret  of  suc- 
cess, and  which  are  well  worthy  of  imitation. 

There  are  at  least  two  classes  of  men  of  mark  in  North 
Carolina.  The  one  class  are  those  who  are  known  throughout 
the  State  by  their  public  utterances  and  by  the  high  positions 
they  occupy,  and  also  by  their  splendid  achievements  and  noble 
examples.  The  other  class  are  those  who  are  not  generally  known, 
except  in  the  circumscribed  districts  in  which  they  live.  They  arc 
men  who  shrink  from  publicity,  and  are  modest  and  unassuming 
in  all  their  ways,  and  yet  they  exercise  a  wonderful  influence  by 
their  sound  judgment,  wholesome  advice  and  noble  lives  in  build- 
ing up  the  State  in  every  department  of  its  welfare  and  in  foster- 
ing and  maintaining  its  noble  institutions.  This  class,  perhaps 
more  than  any  other,  mold  public  opinion  on  all  great  moral  and 
political  questions,  and  sustain  by  their  influence  and  liberal 
means  the  g^eat  educational  and  charitable  institutions  of  the 
State.    Mr.  Richardson  belongs  to  this  class  of  North  Carolina's 


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38o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

noble  sons.  His  strong  personality  and  good  judgment,  together 
with  his  integrity  of  character,  make  him  no  small  factor  in  the 
conventions  and  councils  of  his  fellow-men,  looking  to  the  welfare 
and  guidance  of  both  church  and  State.  In  politics  Mr.  Richard- 
son is  a  Democrat  of  the  "Cleveland"  type,  and  he  exerts  a  quiet 
but  a  large  political  influence  in  the  community  and  county  in  which 
he  lives.  He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  great  money  question  which 
agitated  the  country  a  few  years  ago,  and,  being  an  ardent  advocate 
for  the  "Gold  Standard,"  he  voted  the  "Palmer  and  Buckner" 
ticket  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1896.  In  religion  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson is  a  staunch  Presbyterian,  and  is  a  ruling  elder  in  the 
Reidsville  Presbyterian  Church.  His  kind  deeds  and  liberal  g^fts 
to  all  causes  of  charity  and  benevolence  are  well  known,  and  he 
enjoys  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  all  who  know  him.  His  fine 
intellectual  gifts,  his  high  ideals  of  true  manhood,  his  strict  in- 
tegrity and  purity  of  life,  his  constant  attention  to  his  business, 
his  persistent  and  patient  industry,  his  generous  and  forgiving 
nature,  his  liberal  gifts  to  causes  of  benevolence  and  charity,  and 
above  all,  his  devotion  to  duty  and  unswerving  faith  in  God,  mark 
him  not  only  as  a  successful  business  man,  but  as  a  "man  among 
men,"  and  as  one  who  has  learned  the  true  secret  of  success. 

D,  /.  Craig. 


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GRIFFITH    RUTHERFORD 

[XCEPT  some  of  the  most  distinguished  Conti- 
nental officers,  by  far  the  most  important  mili- 
tary man  evolved  during  our  Revolutionary 
struggle  in  North  Carolina  was  General  Griffith 
Rutherford  of  Rowan  County.  The  Ruther- 
fords  were  originally  Scotch.  One  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  name  was  Rev.  Samuel  Rutherford,  who,  in 
1644,  published  his  "Lex  Rex,"  which  gives  him  a  prominent  place 
among  the  early  writers  on  constitutional  law.  On  the  Restora- 
tion this  work  was  ordered  to  be  burned,  and  he  was  charged  with 
high  treason,  but  died  in  1661  before  he  was  brought  to  trial.  Later 
some  members  of  his  family  removed  from  Scotland  to  Ireland,  • 
where  John  Rutherford  married  a  Miss  Griffith,  a  lady  from  Wales. 
Their  son,  Griffith  Rutherford,  sailed  from  Ireland  to  America  in 
1739,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  their  only  son,  Griffith,  then 
about  eight  years  of  age.  The  parents  died  either  on  the  voyage 
or  soon  after  their  arrival,  and  young  Griffith  Rutherford,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  fell  to  the  care  of  an  old  German  couple. 

When  about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  probably  about  1753,  he 
came  to  Rowan  County  along  with  the  early  settlers  of  that  region. 
In  1756  he  purchased  from  James  Lynn  two  tracts  of  land  on  the 
south  fork  of  Grant's  Creek,  about  seven  miles  southwest  of  the 
little  settlement  of  Salisbury,  and  adjoining  the  land  of  James 
Graham,  whose  sister  Elizabeth  he  married  about  that  time.    Their 


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382  NORTH  CAROLINA 

son,  James  Rutherford,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Eutaw,  was  a  major 
in  1780  and  was  bom  probably  in  1757. 

Although  General  Rutherford's  education  was  not  a  finished 
one,  it  was  not  so  deficient  as  to  be  a  hindrance  to  him  in  public 
life.  His  residence  was  in  the  center  of  the  Locke  settlement,  and 
his  association  was  with  the  best  people  of  his  section. 

A  man  of  strong  character,  resolute  and  of  unusual  capacity 
and  sterling  worth,  he  early  attained  a  position  of  prominence 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  as  early  as  1766,  and  about 
1769  he  was  sheriff  of  Rowan  County.  He  was  in  the  Assembly 
of  1770  and  1 77 1,  and  was  then  captain  of  his  militia  company 
in  his  section  of  Rowan. 

As  the  Regulators  of  Rowan  County  questioned  the  legality  of 
the  fees  taken  by  the  officers  of  that  county,  Rutherford  and 
Frohawk  and  Alexander  Martin  and  other  officers  of  whom  they 
complained  agreed  that  the  matters  in  dispute  should  be  referred 
to  a  committee  of  citizens,  some  being  chosen  from  among  the 
leaders  of  the  Regulation  and  others  having  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  such  as  Matthew  Locke  and  Thomas  Person.  This  agree- 
ment was  entered  into  at  Salisbury  on  March  7,  1771,  and  was 
satisfactory  to  both  officers  and  the  people,  and  if  it  had  not  been 
interfered  with,  but  had  been  carried  into  effect,  it  probably  would 
have  been  the  entire  solution  of  the  question  then  ag^ting  the 
western  counties.  But  Governor  Tryon  disapproved  of  it  as  being 
uncon^itutional,  and  pressed  forward  his  military  movement,  that 
resulted  in  the  battle  of  Alamance  two  months  later. 

Rutherford,  being  captain  of  a  militia  company,  was  active  in 
restraining  excesses  of  the  Regulators,  and  he  led  his  company 
into  General  Waddell's  camp,  and  it  was  by  his  advice  that 
Waddell  retired  before  the  Regulation  forces  and  avoided  a  battle 
with  the  people.  Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Alamance  he. 
along  with  Waddell's  other  troops,  joined  Tr>on's  army,  and  he 
continued  on  that  service  until  the  forces  of  the  province  were 
disbanded.  But  while  an  active  force  in  sustaining  law,  order  and 
government,  yet  Rutherford  was  not  arbitrary  in  his  intercourse 
with  the  people,  and  if  the  prudent  and  patriotic  course  agreed 


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GRIFFITH  RUTHERFORD  383 

on  by  him  and  the  other  officers  of  Rowan  County  had  not  been 
disapproved  of  by  Governor  Tryon,  the  Regulators  would  probably 
have  been  entirely  satisfied  and  the  country  pacified  without  any 
resort  to  arms. 

The  people  of  Rowan  continued  to  elect  Rutherford  to  repre- 
sent them  in  the  Assembly,  and  he  was  a  member  continuously 
until  1774,  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of 
1775.  Under  the  influence  of  Rutherford  and  his  associates,  the 
inhabitants  of  Rowan  County  were  very  forward  in  their  Revo- 
lutionary proceedings.  On  June  i,  1775,  the  committee  laid  a  tax 
to  meet  expenses,  and  offered  an  association  paper  for  the  military 
companies  to  sign,  agreeing  to  sacrifice  their  lives  before  sur- 
rendering their  constitutional  rights.  On  the  same  day  they  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  committee  of  Mecklenburg  asking  them 
to  interchange  communication  of  their  respective  proceedings,  and 
besought  their  co-operation.  They  did  not  know  then  of  the  still 
greater  action  taken  by  the  committee  of  Mecklenburg  the  day 
before  declaring  null  and  void  all  royal  commissions,  overthrowing 
the  government  of  the  Crown  and  establishing  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent system  of  government,  the  officers  being  chosen  by  the 
people  themselves — being  actual  independence. 

At  the  Provincial  Congress  of  September,  1775,  Rutherford 
was  appointed  colonel  of  Rowan  County,  and  also  appointed  on 
the  Committee  of  Safety  for  the  Salisbury  district.  In  December 
the  Provincial  Council  organized  a  battalion  of  minute  men  in 
Rowan  and  appointed  him  colonel  of  the  same.  Rutherford  was 
in  all  the  subsequent  Provincial  Congresses,  and  assisted  in  fram- 
ing the  constitution  of  the  State. 

As  colonel  of  the  Rowan  regiment,  he  led  his  command  into 
South  Carolina  against  the  Scovelite  Tories  in  the  "Snow  cam- 
paign" in  December,  1775,  and  his  conduct  was  so  satisfactory  that 
when  brigadier-generals  were  provided  for  in  April,  1776,  he  was 
appointed  brigadier-general  of  the  western  district.  A  few  months 
later  the  invasion  by  the  Indians  planned  by  Governor  Martin 
threw  Rowan  County  into  a  wil.d  state  of  excitement.  In  the  first 
week  in  July  bands  of  warriors  crossed  the  mountains  and  fell  on 


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384  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  settlers  on  Crooked  Creek  (near  Rutherfordton),  and  a  large 
force,  establishing  headquarters  on  the  Nollichunky,  came  up  the 
Toe  and,  passing  the  Blue  Ridge,  carried  murder  and  desolation 
into  that  part  of  Rowan  County.  "Thirty-seven  persons  were 
killed  last  Wednesday  and  Thursday  on  the  Catawba  River,"  and 
"Colonel  McDowell  and  ten  men  more  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
women  and  children  are  besieged  in  some  kind  of  a  fort  and  the 
Indians  around  them."  "Three  of  our  captains  were  killed  and 
one  wounded.  This  day  I  set  out  with  what  men  I  can  raise 
for  the  relief  of  the  district."  Such  was  the  hurried  report  of 
General  Rutherford  to  the  Council  of  Safety.  By  the  19th  of 
July  Rutherford  had  marched  with  2500  men  to  protect  the 
frontier,  and  on  the  29th,  with  a  detachment  of  500,  he  crossed 
the  mountains  and  dislodged  the  Indians,  who  had  established 
themselves  on  the  Nollichunky.  A  month  later,  the  Council  of 
State  being  then  in  session  at  Colonel  Lane's  at  Wake  Court 
House,  President  Samuel  Ashe  directed  General  Rutherford  to 
proceed  against  the  Indians  in  their  stronghold.  He  crossed 
through  Swannanoa  Gap  and  over  the  mountains  to  the  Tuck- 
aseegee  and  down  Valley  River  and  the  Hiwassee,  entirely  destroy- 
ing every  Indian  town  and  driving  the  Indians  across  the  Smokies. 
This  expedition  through  the  unbroken  wilderness  was  most  suc- 
cessful, and  must  have  largely  enhanced  Rutherford's  reputation. 
He  returned  in  time  to  attend  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Novem- 
ber, 1776,  and  he  represented  Rowan  County  in  the  Senate  from 
1777  to  1786,  with  the  exception  of  two  years,  1781  and  1782. 
Quiet  reigned  in  Western  North  Carolina  in  the  early  years  of 
the  war,  but  in  1779  General  Rutherford  marched  his  brigade  to 
the  Savannah  to  the  aid  of  General  Lincoln,  and  in  June,  1780, 
he  suppressed  the  Tories  at  Ramseur's  Mills,  and  threatened  Lord 
Rawdon  in  South  Carolina,  and  dispersed  the  Tories  on  the 
Yadkin.  He  marched  with  Gates  to  Camden,  where,  on  the  i6th 
of  August,  1780,  while  bravely  fighting,  he  was  wounded  and 
taken  prisoner.  He  was  confined  at  St.  Augustine  until,  in  the 
summer  of  1781,  he  was  exchanged  and  again  reached  his  home. 
Major  Craig,  with  his  British  troopers  and  Tory  bands,  was  then 


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GRIFFITH  RUTHERFORD  385 

dominating  the  whole  Cape  Fear  region.  As  quickly  as  possible 
General  Rutherford  assembled  his  brigade  and  marched  upon  these 
British  forces.  On  his  way  he  drove  the  Tories  before  him,  and 
about  the  middle  of  November  approached  the  town;  but  just 
then  Major  Craig  received  information  of  the  surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis,  and  hurriedly  evacuated  Wilmingtbn  and  escaped  in  his 
shipping.  Thus  from  December,  1775,  until  the  last  British  soldier 
was  expelled  from  the  limits  of  the  State,  in  November,  1781,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  important  actors  during  the  Revolution,  and 
while  not  so  distinguished  as  Howe,  Sumner  or  the  lamented 
General  Nash,  he  rendered  immediately  to  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  more  signal  service  than  any  other  North  Carolinian 
during  the  war. 

After  peace  he  continued  an  influential  public  man  and  State 
senator  until  1786,  when  he  removed  to  Tennessee;  and  in  1794, 
upon  the  organization  of  the  "Territory  south  of  the  Ohio,"  Presi- 
dent Washington  appointed  him  a  member  of  the  legislative  Coun- 
cil of  that  Territory,  and  he  was  chosen  president  of  that  body, 
and  conducted  its  affairs.  Six  years  later,  in  1800,  he  died  at  his 
home  in  Sumner  County  much  lamented,  and  his  fame  and 
services  have  been  perpetuated  both  in  North  Carolina  and  in 
Tennessee  by  naming  a  county  in  his  honor.  His  son,  John 
Rutherford,  married  a  daughter  of  Matthew  Locke,  the  founder 
of  the  Locke  family  of  Rowan  County,  and  his  descendants  still 
reside  in  Tennessee. 

5*.  A.  Ashe. 


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LEVI    M.   SCOTT 

[N  the  history  of  every  community  will  be  found 
the  name  of  some  one  man  who  is  the  type  of 
its  people.  He  has  been  connected  with  the 
events,  memorable  in  their  annals,  which  have 
contributed  to  their  advancement  and  renown 
or  have  led  to  their  degradation  and  ruin.  He 
rejoiced  with  them  in  the  days  of  their  prosperity  and  happiness, 
he  shared  their  sorrows  and  misfortunes.  If  history  has  failed 
to  preserve  his  memory,  tradition  has  handed  it  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  and  he  represents  to  the  children  of  later  days 
the  same  ideas,  the  same  traits,  the  same  characteristics  which 
were  recognized  by  their  ancestors. 

In  the  personality  of  Mr.  Levi  M.  Scott  is  distinctly  portrayed 
the  character  of  the  citizens  of  Guilford  County.  Bom  among 
them  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  and  living  among 
them  all  the  years  which  have  since  passed,  he  has  been  a  part 
and  parcel  of  their  very  life.  He  symbolizes  their  thoughts,  their 
aspirations,  their  impulses,  their  memories  of  the  past,  their  am- 
bition for  the  future.  Mr.  Scott  is  intensely  North  Carolinian, 
and  peculiarly  of  Guilford  County,  a  type  of  citizen  of  which 
Guilford  County  has  boasted,  and  may  well  write  in  her  annals 
as  worthy  to  grace  the  pages  of  history  and  gild  with  an  ever- 
lasting luster  her  name  and  fame. 
For  over  one  hundred  years  Mr.  Scott  and  his  ancestors  have 


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1  I.\l    M.   SCOTT 


Y  'ff  .  * '^ ; -T^M*^  N   '*•*■  •"'*  •r\  c»f  t'vcr\   C'>n'iininitv  will  1  ♦•  i 
•  *'*        I       /^-  "^     J'*    u'"  i.U\      He   I.av   Inon   Lonn'^ctc'    \\v\\ 

-r^r  1  Ms:^  / _.t.       :^.K    ...      .,      :. 


,,••^'^1 


■!!*».  n.ciiK^ral'l''  in  t^'"ir  anTrtl.'%,  n-    rl    '• 


^:   ^\^yCyI^~\         c- iiiril'iite  1   t«j  t!:<ir  a-lvanroinciil  aiul   r» 
>/j(' ■''<^'i>'.*^'^'^-..^    "'  *^i^*^'^-'  '*''^  ^'^  tb»'ir  <K  L^ra'laticn  an-*,  r*    r 
.'•;     .•••  \\"'\  •'.i.T.  iti  tlic  <!.i\s  cf  t'l' ir  f)ro'«i).nty  and  hi';-' 
'  .•        *■'     :    '-'TO'.^i  aiiil   nii.-f<  I  r  ji't  >.      If  hi^'  iry  lia<:   t. 

*•    ;  ••     •  •  .     '    '  rnoTiM  ry.  ir,.»i.t'.  n  h  is  iK.n^lo'l  il  «l'>\vn  I'l   m  ^     • 
"    •!  '       '  •!' r  iM'.n,  an*!  he  rc:'rc>'*r'-  i(    thr  i-'-ilircn  of  l.'v*- - 
:  .«*   v..:.c   i  !'  i>,   ti.i!   <,i'iie   lia.ts.   t*-   sanv    vhar.iv-tcri>»:' ^    " 

In  t'f  |>«  :s. 'tiai'l)  •>!  Mr.  L' \  i  M     ^i   'tl  i>  i!itlnr!ly  ;»•  "f  . 
ilio  cl:ar.i -tvT  •t'  the  riti/cim  ct   ('."'.    -r  1   ^'o''nty       I*    t     ." 
thrni  more  tii.^n  tlir';i--(;/.art"rs  of  a  •*''ntnr\  aLr«>  aril  livr  ."  .  :• 

tlicin  :J!  tlie  \car<  which  hav*  vincc  pa-^cil,  \\c  h:\<  I a  ' 

'ip^!  ]K  -.»'  (-»f  tlu'ir  Vfiy  hfc.     \lr  <\nih.  li/''S  th.^-ir  t};'»i!-:*.t.    •* 
a^i,;  at't  n>,  til- .r  inunii.>''>,  t^'rir   niMi.»r't:s  (»f  t^<.  [>   ^t.  t't" 
i-'.ti-.n   for  ihe   liitrro.     Mr.   Srott  is  urcn^i'v   >.'   rih   *"•' 
ai^'l    |>''rn'iarly   nf  (iuilf.-jrcl   ("or.r.ty.   a   t^  ;i'      1    r't'/on     •:    %• 
('•'lilfor.l  ('.•iiiitv  I'as  Iw.a-tc'l.  aivl  may  wvW   \\r\:o  in  h»  r  " 
as  n')iMi\    In  ^Ta'X-  th.c  pi.t^o    'f  I  i<l<rN    an  1  ^  !•!  \\\:h  :r    *.'. 
l.i  t::«t^  Inttr  lu  r  ii?*''x*  and   f.ni*^ 
r<T  'tNcr  'MH!  h''n«':c  '  v.ir^i  Mr.  So  itt  ati'!  I'.is  nn..'>*   '-  ! 


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FT  '  • 

1     *  f'r      • 


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I  r.VI    M.   SCOTT 


.>,.•;/'      '  y^r  '  -^  *   '-'    ''^"r)  oi  c\  cr\  C'»Tr.nuinity  wi.l  h*    ! 
."•'^'   '*"^* — r'^^2     '■''-  ''^**'''''  "^    -''H'c  CM-  niciri  wIk^  i'    lh«'  :\' 

'v.  KjN^     •  ^t'!-r^.  n.tiporalilf  in  tl-'-ir  ann:ii>,  vnI'.c- 

^;-^i»J4Tj$9  fe--       C'  !.!ril'iui^  1   t«)  tl.cir  a-lvaMoeniciit  atul   r« 


ra-latit'Ti  aii'l  r'  t 


^-•V '■'''• '^'"-^V-^i    "T-  h:i\e  Io<!  to  tlivir  <K'.L;r 
.'  :  •  .<•'  \\**'i  '.l.i'T'  in  {].c  <'..;vn  (^f  l':«  ir  [)r()>[»vrify  an^l  h.r  ;■  : 
I  ,    .'   <*...-  ^.-Tows  aiul  iTii-t'  rriiii-^.      If  hist  irv  ba^   t 

*•    ;  :v      •  .«   !'.-  iTie'p'Tv.  iic..Lt'.  n  lia>  :u.!it!c«l  il  .1  )\vn  fi'.-m  ..     ; 
r.'»n  'v    •  'M'TiMMi,  .in.l  lie  ri'iTotM^*-;  t«  •  tlic  r}.il'ir''n  of  lu'-' 
:..«'   ^:u^jc   i  1  '  IS.   tic   .same   traits,   t-/   >anu    c!iaractc'':>t:<«   •.. 
v\t-'      rt'•^ -c;!!!/*  tl   l»y   tlu'T   aiu  «■-•.  )rs 

1:1  t  'c  \u  rs(.:ial'ty  of  Mr.  L-".  1  M    Si-  -tl  i>  v!i  tinrtiy  ;•  'tr 
tlio  cl:ara/tor  '^^   tl:c  <'iti/cn-  «.f  ('•••'. '.'r-!   ^'^iMity       1*   m'   ..^ 
th'jifi  ni'irc  th.'.n  tliroc--(|Liarivrs  of  a  «''Mitr.ry  airo  an-l  livr  ;:   i.: 
tlxm  all   tlic  \ears  whu'ii  have  «!r^c(*  pa-^,.!,  \\c  V:\<  !.'•»•!    a 
ittI  p..-..^  of  thc'r  vciy  life.     1!.-  fyrnlM  li/.'s  tb'*ir  tl-.-Mii:';*-    * 
a<p;/ati«  n>,  th' .r  ini;>i:!>"s.  t^uir   iii«n.'.»r:cs  -.a'  tin    [)/.st,  !'<" 
i''*i"n   for  the   tutrrc.     ^lr.   Sr(^4t  i>  nrtii-iJy   X  -rl:.   «    .r 
ar^i   ]>'"t^n'iarly   ui  ^  aiilf''>rv!   Coiiiity.  a   t'  ;>c      f   r!t*/o::     •;'   ^* 
('»'iilfor<l  (oiK.ty  has  lw<a^tc«l.  and   n^.ay  well   \n  r:t  *  ifi  her  •  •* 
as  \vor'!;\    l<'  j^ra^x-  ih.e  pai^es  ..f  I.ist(^r\    ap.  1   <:  '•!  \\\:\\  :•.'. 
l.i  t::iL^  Iw-'ti  r  h*  r  t^i'th*  am!  fame 
r<T  O'er  one  h^'»i«'r<- !  vear*;  Mr.  Scott  aii-l  I'ls  nnv«    *    '^ 


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,.._,,,  -lor.K 


J.;.:  c'uBR»R"' 


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LEVI  M.  SCOTT  387 


gone  in  and  out  among  this  people,  have  walked  the  ways  of  men 
in  this  county,  and  have  become  a  part  of  its  life  and  history. 
Mr.  Scott  is  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  a  people  noted  for  their 
courage,  conservatism  and  love  of  freedom.  Of  Irish  descent  was 
Thomas  Scott,  a  Pennsylvanian,  who  some  time  before  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  emigrated  to  North  Carolina  and  settled  in  Guil- 
ford County.  He  was  the  father  of  Adam  Scott,  who  was  a  native 
of  Guilford  County,  where  he  was  born  in  1772.  He  died  in  1837, 
having  lived  his  life  in  Guilford  County.  John  D.  Scott  was  a 
son  of  Adam  Scott  and  the  father  of  Levi  M.  Scott,  and  was 
born  in  Guilford  County  in  the  year  1800.  He  devoted  his  entire 
life  to  agriculture  in  Guilford  County.  He  was  a  patriotic,  public- 
spirited  citizen,  and  very  fond  of  military  life,  and  was  for  many 
years  Colonel  in  the  North  Carolina  Cavalry.  In  1824  he  married 
Miss  Jane  McLean,  daughter  of  Marshall  McLean  of  Guilford 
County,  a  family  whose  name  had  been  connected  with  the  history 
of  the  county  for  over  a  century,  and  whose  ancestors  came  from 
the  bonnie  hills  of  Scotland.  Their  home  was  blessed  with  three 
children,  Allen  H.  Scott,  who  became  a  farmer  and  spent  his  life 
in  the  county ;  Levi  M.  Scott,  and  William  L.  Scott,  who  became 
a  lawyer,  and  in  1856  moved  to  Georgia  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  Hon.  Benjamin  H.  Hill.  In  1856,  however,  he  returned  to 
North  Carolina  and  formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother,  Levi  M. 
Scott,  imder  the  firm  name  of  "Scott  &  Scott." 

During  a  sojourn  of  his  father  and  mother  in  Rockingham 
County,  June  8,  1827,  Levi  M.  ^ott  was  bom.  While  yet  an 
infant  he  was  brought  back  to  Guilford  County.  Living  in  the 
country,  he  attended  the  schools  most  convenient  and  read  the 
papers  of  the  day.  It  was  while  reading  in  the  newspapers,  at 
his  father's  home  in  the  country,  the  debates  participated  in  by 
great  lawyers  of  that  day,  and  the  speeches  of  statesmen  in  Con- 
gress and  our  State  legislature,  that  he  first  conceived  the  idea 
of  becoming  a  lawyer  himself.  This  was  before  he  had  ever  seen 
a  Latin  grammar  or  attended  any  other  than  a  public  school.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered  the  Greensboro  High  School.  This 
was  in  1845.    At  that  time  the  faculty  consisted  of  Rev.  Dr.  Eli  W. 


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388  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Caruthers,  President  and  professor  of  Greek;  Professor  Silas  C. 
Lindsley,  who  taught  Latin,  and  Professor  Joseph  A.  McLean, 
M.D.,  an  uncle  of  Mr.  Scott's,  who  was  professor  of  mathematics, 
ypon  entrance  into  student  life  at  the  high  school  he  joined  the 
Hermean  Literary  Society,  where  he  at  once  became  distinguished 
for  his  powers  of  debate.  During  the  year  he  was  elected  its 
President,  and  at  the  end  of  the  term  was  chosen  by  the  Faculty 
to  deliver  an  original  address  at  the  commencement.  In  the 
Society  he  formed  close  friendships  with  Hon.  Victor  C.  Barringer 
of  this  State  and  Hon.  Benjamin  H.  Epperson  of  Texas,  his 
fellow-students,  who  were  afterward  renowned  for  their  eloquence 
and  statesmanship.  The  years  1847  and  1848  he  spent  at  Ala- 
mance Academy  as  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Caruthers,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  educators  of  his  day,  who  had  then  severed  his  con- 
nection with  Greensboro  High  School,  and  had  opened  a  Classical 
School  in  his  Alamance  congregation,  where  he  had  preached 
since  the  death  of  Dr.  David  Caldwell  in  1824,  and  where  he  con- 
tinued to  preach  for  many  years  afterward. 

It  was  while  teaching  the  high  school  in  Greensboro,  in  the  years 
1849  and  1850,  that  Mr.  Scott  began  the  study  of  law,  having  for 
his  instructor  Hon.  John  A.  Gilmer,  the  elder.  In  185 1,  however, 
he  received  the  appointment  as  postmaster  at  Greensboro  under 
President  Fillmore,  which  he  held  until  1853,  when  he  resigned  his 
position  on  account  of  his  election  to  the  office  of  clerk  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Guilford  County.  While  postmaster,  in  August, 
1851,  he  received  his  license  to  practice  law  in  the  county  courts 
from  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Thomas  Ruffin,  Frederick 
Nash  and  Richmond  Pearson.  He  stood  his  examination  at  Mor- 
ganton,  where  the  Supreme  Court  had  met  for  the  convenience  of 
the  lawyers  in  the  western  part  of  the  State.  There  being  at  that 
time  no  railroads  in  that  part  of  North  Carolina,  all  the  lawyers 
came  to  court  by  stage  or  on  horseback.  On  December  30,  1852, 
he  received  his  license  to  practice  in  the  Superior  Courts  of  the 
State. 

He  visited  Washington  for  the  first  time  while  postmaster. 
During  this  visit  of  about  a  week  he  visited  the  Houses  of  Con- 


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LEVI  M.  SCOTT  389 


g^ess  daily  and  listened  to  the  speeches  of  Senators  Cass  of  Michi- 
gan, Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois  and  William  H.  Seward  of 
New  York  and  many  other  senators  and  representatives.  A  part 
of  the  time  he  spent  with  Hon.  William  A.  Graham  of  North 
Carolina,  who  was  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  while  here  also 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  General  Winfield  Scott,  the  hero 
of  the  Mexican  War,  who  was  then  filling  temporarily  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  War,  in  the  absence  of  the  Secretary  from  the  city. 
Here  also  he  heard  Louis  Kossuth,  the  great  Hungarian,  deliver 
an  address  at  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  and  saw  the  celebrated 
Catherine  Cushman,  as  Lady  Macbeth,  at  the  theatre,  who  after- 
ward played  before  Queen  Victoria. 

In  the  summer  of  1856  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  House 
of  Commons,  now  called  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  upon 
being  elected  resigned  his  office  as  clerk  of  the  court.  In  politics 
he  was  of  the  faith  of  his  father  before  him,  a  Whig,  and  opposed 
to  free  suffrage,  which  was  then  proposed  as  an  amendment  to 
our  Constitution,  and  which  was  promulgated  by  Governor  Reid 
in  his  campaign  for  governor  and  finally  ratified  by  the  legislature 
of  1856-57.  Believing  that  property  should  be  represented  in  one 
branch  of  the  legislature  as  established  by  our  fathers,  Mr.  Scott 
voted  against  the  measure,  and  had  his  vote  so  recorded.  In  the 
year  1858  he  was  elected  solicitor  for  Guilford  County  for  a  term 
of  four  years,  and  at  the  expiration  of  the  same  was  re-elected  for 
another  term  of  four  years,  filling  the  office  with  honor  to  him- 
self and  satisfaction  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Scott  was  married  in  1861  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Weatherly  of 
Guilford  County,  a  woman  of  surpassing  beauty,  of  splendid 
attainments  and  for  many  years  a  leader  in  the  social  life  of 
Greensboro.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Andrew  Weatherly. 
Two  children  were  born  to  this  union,  the  surviving  one  being 
Mrs.  Lily  Scott  Reynolds  of  East  Orange,  New  Jersey. 

The  State  convention,  commonly  known  as  the  Secession  con- 
vention, in  its  third  session  in  Raleigh,  on  the  8th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1862,  chartered  the  "Piedmont  Railroad  Company,"  with 
authorized  capital  of  $1,500,000,  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  the 


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390  NORTH  CAROLINA 

North  Carolina  Railroad  at  Greensboro  with  the  Richmond  and 
Danville  Railroad  at  Danville.  It  was  a  war  measure,  and  author- 
ity was  given  to  the  Commissioners  named  in  the  act  to  confer  with 
the  proper  authorities  of  the  Confederate  States  Government  and, 
if  possible,  interest  them  in  the  building  of  the  road.  The  policy 
had  been  for  many  years  that  no  internal  improvements,  such  as 
railroads,  should  lead  out  of  the  State,  the  purpose  being  to  build 
up  a  seaport  city  at  Beaufort,  Morehead  City  or  some  other  point 
on  our  coast,  and  that  all  railroads  should  connect  with  lines  feed- 
ing these  points.  This  policy  was  strongly  urged  by  President 
Joseph  Caldwell  of  the  University,  Judge  A.  D.  Murphey,  Gov- 
ernor John  M.  Morehead  and  others,  that  our  commerce,  as  far 
as  possible,  might  be  kept  within  the  borders  of  our  own  State, 
and  thus  build  up  for  North  Carolina  a  port  for  the  shipment 
of  all  our  products  instead  of  allowing  them  to  go  out  through 
the  ports  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  Richmond  and  Nor- 
folk, Virginia.  But  for  the  war  probably  the  building  of  a  road 
from  Greensboro  to  Danville  would  have  been  deferred  for  many 
years ;  however,  it  was  felt  to  be  a  military  necessity,  for  Greens- 
boro had  become  the  headquarters  for  large  commissary  and  quar- 
termaster stores  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  armies  in  and 
around  Richmond,  and  the  inconvenience  of  hauling  them  with 
wagons  from  Greensboro  to  Danville  was  greatly  felt.  It  was 
'also  necessary  in  order  to  transport  soldiers  between  the  two 
points,  thus  establishing  railway  connection  between  the  Southern 
States  and  Richmond.  Among  the  commissioners  named  in  the 
charter  was  Levi  M.  Scott,  Jesse  H.  Lindsay  and  Ralph  Gorrell 
of  Guilford  County.  A  portion  of  the  commissioners,  including 
Mr.  Scott,  Mr.  Lindsay  and  Mr.  Gorrell,  in  pursuance  of  the  power 
vested  in  them,  visited  Richmond  and  held  frequent  consultations 
with  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  and  after  much  effort  secured  the  consent 
of  the  Government  to  undertake  the  building  of  the  road,  and  in  a 
remarkably  short  time  the  road  was  constructed,  and  was  con- 
tinuously operated  during  the  remainder  of  the  war. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Scott  has  been  signally  successful.    For  many 


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LEVI  M.  SCOTT  391 


years  he  had  the  largest  clientage  in  this  section  of  the  State,  and 
his  practice  yielded  large  returns.  During  the  fifty-three  years 
he  has  been  in  the  practice  he  has  had  only  two  law  offices,  one 
just  across  North  Elm  Street  from  the  court-house,  in  the  square, 
one-story  brick  building  still  standing,  and  the  other  in  his  build- 
ing on  Court  Square,  where  he  has  been  for  over  thirty  years. 
In  his  first  office  the  post-office  of  Greensboro  was  kept  by  him 
when  appointed  in  185 1 ;  it  was  in  this  office  also  that  he  kept  the 
office  of  the  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  it  was  in  this  office 
that  Governor  Z.  B.  Vance,  when  forced  to  leave  the  State  Capitol 
on  account  of  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  made  his  headquarters 
for  about  a  week.  The  proclamation  of  April  28,  1865,  was 
written  by  Governor  Vance  in  this  office  while  making  it  his  head- 
quarters during  the  war.  Mr.  Scott  practiced  for  the  most  part 
in  the  old  Fifth  Judicial  District,  in  the  counties  of  Guilford, 
Alamance,  Davidson  and  Randolph,  with  occasional  attendance 
upon  the  courts  of  other  counties,  generally  Forsyth,  Rockingham, 
Caswell,  Orange,  Wake,  Rowan  and  Iredell.  Since  the  war  he 
practiced  in  the  United  States  courts  at  Raleigh  and  New-Bern  for 
many  years  until  the  Federal  Court  was  established  at  Greens- 
boro. 

His  first  appearance  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  was  at 
the  December  term,  i860,  in  the  case  of  Wiseman  v,  Cornish, 
which  is  reported  in  53  North  Carolina  Supreme  Court  Reports, 
and  he  has  continually  practiced  in  this  court  until  the  present 
time,  having  tried  a  very  large  number  of  important  cases,  in 
which  he  has  been  remarkably  successful,  and  in  which  are  settled 
and  established  many  important  principles  of  law. 

The  only  fraternal  order  to  which  Mr.  Scott  belonged  before 
the  war  was  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  joined 
the  Buena  Vista  Lodge,  No.  21,  in  Greensboro,  in  1850.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  war  there  were  about  fifty  subordinate  lodges 
in  the  State.  The  Grand  Lodge  had  met  at  Statesville  in  July, 
i860,  at  which  time  the  membership  was  about  1300.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  every  subordinate  lodge  in  the  State  suspended 
and  ceased  to  work  excepting  the  Neuse  Lodge,  No.  6,  at  Golds- 


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392  NORTH  CAROLINA 

boro,  and  the  Buena  Vista  Lodge,  No.  21,  at  Greensboro.  In 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State  nearly  every  lodge  had  been  ransacked 
and  their  property  and  effects  destroyed  while  their  members  were 
in  the  army  fighting  for  their  country.  A  call  was  issued  for 
a  meeting  of  the  lodges  in  grand  session  at  Greensboro  on  the 
13th  of  December,  1865 ;  but  only  two  lodges  were  present;  there- 
fore, an  adjournment  was  had  to  meet  at  the  same  place  on 
July  26,  1866,  when  the  Grand  Lodge  was  opened  by  Deputy 
Grand  Master  W.  R.  Edwards,  and  representatives  of  nine  lodges 
only  appeared.  At  this  meeting  Levi  M.  Scott  was  elected  Grand 
Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State.  He  filled  this  office 
with  signal  success  and  marked  ability.  At  the  next  meeting 
his  address  to  the  body  was  a  magnificent  effort,  and  the  rehab- 
ilitation of  the  lodges  throughout  the  State  was  in  great  d^ree 
through  the  zealous,  constant  and  unremitting  labor  and  zeal  on 
his  part.  With  their  property  destroyed,  and  battling  against  the 
extreme  poverty  following  upon  the  heels  of  war,  it  took  much 
effort  to  revive  them  again. 

Mr.  Scott  was  appointed  Receiver  of  Sequestered  property  by 
the  Confederate  Government  in  1862,  which  position  he  held  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  His  duties  were  to  collect  all  debts  owing 
Northern  creditors  from  Southern  debtors  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Confederate  States.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  State  Penitentiary,  and  held  this 
position  until  1889. 

The  personality  of  Mr.  Scott  is  most  attractive.  As  a  lawyer 
he  is  persevering,  accurate,  methodical,  prompt.  He  is  courteous 
and  respectful  to  his  brethren  of  the  bar  and  to  the  officers  of  the 
court,  but  never  lavishly  so.  He  is  obsequious  to  no  man,  but  is 
firm,  independent  and  reserved,  and  of  calm,  dignified  bearing. 
I  doubt  that  any  man  ever  saw  him  lose  his  self-possession  even 
in  the  most  heated  argument  or  the  most  closely  contested  case. 
He  has  an  equanimity  and  well-balanced  mental  state  which  is 
seldom  found.  When  he  once  undertakes  a  cause,  he  spares  no 
labor  in  its  preparation,  and  at  the  trial  he  is  careful,  cautious, 
deliberate,  a  master  of  his  case,  courageous  and  bold  without  being 


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LEVI  M.  SCOTT  393 


overly  aggressive.  He  never  gives  up,  but  holds  on  with  a 
tenacity  unsurpassed  and  peculiar  to  himself.  He  relies  entirely 
upon  the  law  and  facts  and  is  entirely  devoid  of  trick  or  artifice. 
He  is  learned  in  the  deep  underlying  principles  of  the  law  and 
familiar  with  the  decisions  of  our  courts.  He  takes  no  mean 
advantage,  but  is  a  foe  to  be  dreaded  in  the  court-house.  He 
spares  no  labor ;  he  never  gives  up. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Scott  is  tall,  straight  and  his  hair 
and  beard  are  white  as  the  driven  snow.  He  is  always  cleanly  in 
his  appearance,  modest  and  elegant  in  his  dress  and  in  manner  un- 
assuming. He  is  warm-hearted,  unselfish  and  kindly  in  manner, 
and  charitable  in  his  deeds  and  estimates  of  men,  and  has  always 
had  that  gift  of  reasonableness  and  caution  which  has  ever  kept 
him  dear  of  factions  and  conflicts.  To  his  friends  he  has  always 
been  attractive,  for  he  has  ever  been  faithful,  kind,  gentle,  courte- 
ous, patient  and  enduring,  and  sensitive  to  every  obligation  to  keep 
it.  He  has  always  been,  and  is  to-day,  truthful,  honorable  and  an 
example  of  ethics  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  and  in  his  life. 
He  has  a  fraternal  feeling  for  the  profession  to  which  he  belongs 
and  a  pride  in  its  glory  and  the  maintenance  of  its  standards.  He 
has  retained  the  confidence  of  all  who  have  trusted  him  through 
life,  and  nearing  four-score,  he  is  fond  of  a  joke,  laughs  heartily, 
loves  the  conversation  of  friends  and  has  preserved  through  the 
years  a  sweetness  of  spirit  which  makes  him  esteemed  by  all  who 
know  him. 

A.  Wayland  Cooke. 


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HENRY   SEAWELL 

[N  1797  one  lawyer  constituted  the  entire  bar  of 
North  Carolina's  capital  city,  and  that  lawyer 
was  Henry  Seawell,  who  was  bom  in  the 
whilom  county  of  Bute  (the  part  afterward 
Franklin  County)  on  the  23d  of  December, 
1774.  He  was  the  son  of  Joseph  Seawell  and 
his  wife,  Martha  Macon,  daughter  of  Gideon  Macon  and  a  sister 
of  the  eminent  statesman,  Nathaniel  Macon.  Joseph  Seawell  was 
a  son  of  Benjamin  Seawell  of  Bute  County  and  a  brother  of 
Colonel  Benjamin  Seawell  of  the  Revolution. 

Though  Joseph  Seawell  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  his 
native  community,  his  last  days  were  passed  in  Moore  County, 
where  he  owned  extensive  landed  possessions.  His  grave  is  in 
Moore  County,  and  the  monumental  inscription  over  it  tells  us 
that  he  was  bom  March  9,  1745,  and  died  July  4,  1826.  This  was 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
same  day  on  which  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John  Adams  died. 

Though  the  educational  advantages  of  his  section  were  not 
many  in  his  youth,  Henry  Seawell  was  a  well-read  man  and  a 
master  of  forceful  English.  His  license  to  practice  law  is  dated 
April  10,  1797,  and  signed  by  John  Haywood  and  David  Stone, 
judges  of  the  Superior  Court.  About  this  time  Mr.  Seawell  re- 
moved to  Raleigh,  and  in  1799  was  elected  a  member  of  the  North 
Carolina  House  of  Commons.    At  three  succeeding  sessions,  from 


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HENRY  SEA  WELL  395 

1800  to  1802,  inclusive,  he  was  again  Wake's  representative  in 
the  Commons,  and  also  in  1810  and  1812.  At  eight  sessions  of  the 
Assembly,  from  1821  to  1826,  inclusive,  and  in  1831  and  1832, 
he  was  State  senator  from  Wake  County.  In  1803  he  was  elected 
attorney-general  of  North  Carolina,  and  held  that  post  until  1808. 
In  July,  181 1,  he  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court, 
and  served  until  the  end  of  the  year.  However,  he  was  again 
appointed  to  the  same  office  in  April,  181 3.  At  this  period  there 
were  no  distinctive  Supreme  Court  judges,  and  appeals  lay  to  the 
Superior  Court  judges  in  conference.  In  the  fall  of  1818  a 
Supreme  Court  of  three  justices  was  provided  for,  and  Judge  Sea- 
well,  who  was  unsurpassed  in  ability  by  any  of  his  competitors, 
was  a  candidate  for  this  higher  office,  and  not  being  elected,  in  the 
succeeding  February  he  retired  from  the  bench.  For  a  third  term 
he  went  on  the  bench,  being  elected  in  1832,  and  this  time  he  served 
until  his  death. 

In  the  constitutional  convention  of  1835  Judge  Sea  well  was  a 
delegate  from  Wake  County,  and  wielded  a  strong  influence  in 
that  body.  He  was  largely  instrumental  in  abolishing  borough 
representation  in  the  legislature,  and  voted  against  the  enactment 
providing  that  the  Assembly  should  meet  biennially  instead  of 
annually.  He  opposed  the  action  of  the  convention  in  depriving 
all  free  negroes  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  but  was  in  favor  of  placing 
as  a  qualification  upon  their  right  the  requirement  of  at  least  five 
years'  residence  and  the  regular  payment  of  taxes  during  that 
period.  Along  the  same  line,  when  a  later  vote  was  taken  on 
vesting  the  right  of  suffrage  in  free  negroes  who  were  property- 
holders,  he  favored  giving  them  that  right,  but  the  proposition 
was  voted  down,  and  negroes  were  disfranchised  in  toto. 

The  greatest  debt  of  gratitude  was  due  Judge  Seawell  from 
the  city  of  Raleigh  on  account  of  his  vigorous  and  successful 
action  in  preventing  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  there- 
from after  the  old  Capitol  was  burned,  on  the  21st  of  June,  1831. 
After  that  fire  strong  and  well-nigh  successful  efforts  were  inaugu- 
rated by  Fayetteville  to  take  the  capital  from  Raleigh,  and  the 
fight  in  favor  of  Raleigh  was  led  by  Judge  Seawell. 


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396  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  his  centennial  address  on  the  city  of  Raleigh  in  1892  Hon. 
Kemp  P.  Battle  says:  '']udge  Henry  Sea  well,  then  senator  from 
Wake,  is  credited  with  saving  our  city  from  the  threatened  ruin. 
He  procured  the  passage  of  a  bill  appropriating  $50,000  for  the 
erection  of  the  Capitol  on  the  old  site,  many  members  being  per- 
suaded by  the  over-sanguine  promises,  it  is  said,  that  this  amount 
would  finish  the  work.  The  commissioners,  who  had  the  nerve 
to  expend  the  whole  appropriation  in  laying  the  foundation  of  a 
structure  worthy  to  be  called  the  official  house  of  a  million  people, 
deserve  to  have  their  names  handed  down.  They  were  eminent 
for  business  talent  and  integrity.  They  were  William  Boylan, 
Duncan  Cameron,  William  S.  Mhoon,  Henry  Seawell  and  Romu- 
lus M.  Saunders.  All  were  Raleigh  men  except  William  S. 
Mhoon  of  Bertie,  who  was  a  temporary  resident,  then  and  until 
1835  treasurer  of  the  State." 

While  it  is  generally  conceded  that  Judge  Seawell  was  one  of 
the  strongest  criminal  lawyers  who  ever  appeared  at  the  bar  in 
North  Carolina,  his  knowledge  and  ability  extended  to  other 
branches  of  the  law  as  well.  In  1823  he  became  one  of  the  com- 
missioners and  arbitrators  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  to  carry 
out  some  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  involving  complex 
questions  of  international  law.  His  American  colleague  was  the 
Hon.  Langdon  Cheves,  former  speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States,  while  the  British  members  of 
the  commission  were  George  Jackson  (whose  later  diplomatic 
achievements  won  for  him  the  honor  of  knighthood)  and  John 
McTavish.  Of  this  commission  young  Charles  Manly  (afterward 
governor  of  North  Carolina)  was  the  secretary,  and  later  declared 
that  it  was  a  matter  most  flattering  to  his  State  pride  to  see  how 
strong  an  influence  Judge  Seawell  exerted  over  the  deliberations 
of  this  tribunal,  composed,  as  it  was,  of  men  who  had  made 
diplomacy  and  international  law  a  life  study. 

The  death  of  Judge  Seawell  occurred  in  Raleigh  on  the  6th  of 
October,  1835.    The  Raleigh  Register  of  the  13th  of  October  said : 

"Died:  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  this  city  on  Tuesday  night  last  of 
congestive  fever,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  the  Hon.  Henry  Sem- 


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HENRY  SEAWELL 397 

well,  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  Law  and  Equity  in  this  State. 
Judge  Seawell  was  attacked  with  the  disease  which  terminated  his  earthly 
career  in  Nash  County,  while  discharging  the  functions  of  his  judicial 
oflke.  He  was  enabled,  however,  to  reach  home,  and  died  in  the  bosom 
of  his  a£9icted  family ;  and  on  Thursday  his  mortal  remains  were  attended 
to  the  grave  by  an  unusually  large  number  of  S3rmpathizing  relatives  and 
friends.  ..." 

Judge  Seawell's  wife  was  Grizelle  Hinton,  daughter  of  Major 
John  Hinton,  Jr.,  and  a  granddaughter  of  Colonel  John  Hinton. 
An  account  of  Colonel  Hinton  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this 
work.  At  the  time  of  Judge  Seawell's  marriage,  April  17,  1800, 
the  scarcity  of  clergymen  in  Wake  County  rendered  it  necessary 
to  engage  magistrates  to  perform  such  ceremonies.  The  Raleigh 
Register  of  April  22,  1800,  contains  the  following  notice : 

"Married :  At  Major  John  Hinton's,  in  this  neighborhood,  on  Thursday 
last,  by  Cargill  Massenburg,  Esq.,  Henry  Seawell,  Esq.,  of  this  city,  one 
of  the  representatives  of  this  county  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State, 
to  Miss  Gracy  [sic]  Hinton,  daughter  of  the  major." 

By  this  marriage  Judge  Seawell  had  seven  sons  and  two 
daughters.  One  of  his  sons,  the  late  Richard  B.  Seawell  of 
Raleigh,  was  father  of  Joseph  L.  Seawell,  Esq.,  now  deputy  clerk 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina. 

Judge  Seawell  is  interred  in  his  family  burial  ground  near 
Raleigh,  on  the  Tarboro  Road,  about  half  a  mile  eastward  of 
Oakwood  Cemetery. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood, 


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JOHN   SITGREAVES 

TN  the  army,  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench  and  as  a 
member  of  Congress  John  Sitgreaves  of  New- 
Bern,  North  Carolina,  occupied  an  honorable 
station.  An  account  of  the  family  of  Sitgreaves, 
of  English  origin,  which  stayed  for  a  while  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  some  of  whose  members  are 
mentioned  as  living  in  New-Bern,  will  be  found  in  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Magazine  of  History  and  Biography  for  1889,  Vol.  XIIL, 
page  254. 

Thomas  Sitgreaves  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1731,  and  was 
a  resident  of  New-Bern,  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  a  supporter 
of  the  American  cause  during  the  Revolution,  and  was  marshal 
for  the  Court  of  Admiralty  for  the  port  of  Beaufort,  etc. 

John  Sitgreaves  was  born  in  1757.  His  military  career  in  the 
army  of  the  Revolution  probably  began  on  the  i6th  of  April,  1776. 
That  is  the  earliest  date  of  his  services  of  which  we  have  any 
record,  being  the  time  when  he  received  his  commission  as  second 
lieutenant  in  Captain  William  Caswell's  company  of  the  Fifth 
North  Carolina  Continental  Regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel 
Edward  Buncombe.  How  long  Sitgreaves  remained  in  the  service 
or  what  ranks  he  held  after  his  first  appointment  we  are  not 
informed  further  than  the  fact  that  he  was  an  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Richard  Caswell  when  the  forces  of  that  officer  were 
routed  at  the  battle  of  Camden,  on  the  i6th  of  August,  1780.  After 


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JOHN  SITGREAVES  399 

the  return  of  peace  Mr.  Sitg^eaves  was  elected  to  represent  the 
State  in  the  Continental  Congress  of  the  United  States,  serving 
during  the  years  1784-85. 

After  his  return  home  he  represented  the  borough  of  New-Bern 
in  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Commons  for  a  number  of  terms, 
the' first  session  being  that  of  1786.  Being  also  a  member  in  1787, 
he  was  then  elected  speaker  of  that  body.  He  was  also  a  member 
at  the  sessions  of  1788  and  1789.  In  the  convention  at  Hillsboro, 
which  met  on  the  21st  of  July,  1788,  and  rejected  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  he  was  one  of  the  minority  members 
who  favored  the  ratification  of  that  instrument. 

To  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  the  Hon.  John  Stokes, 
President  Washington  appointed  Mr.  Sitgreaves  judge  of  the 
United  States  Court  for  the  district  of  North  Carolina,  and  this 
office  he  held  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1802,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Judge  Potter,  whose  term  of  service  continued  until 
December,  1857. 

Judge  Sitgreaves  married  Mrs.  Martha  Jones  Green,  daughter 
of  the  noted  Revolutionary  statesman.  General  Allen  Jones,  and 
widow  of  James  W.  Green.  In  addition  to  one  or  more  who 
died  young,  two  children  were  bom  to  this  marriage — ^John 
Sitgreaves,  bom  May  i,  1799;  married  Anne  Love,  was  a  citizen 
of  York  County,  South  Carolina,  and  died  in  November,  1868, 
leaving  five  children.  His  other  child  was  Amaryllis.  She  married 
Frederick  Lafayette  Jones  Pride;  this  gentleman  was  a  son  of 
Major  Cadwallader  Jones,  and  assumed  the  additional  name  of 
Pride  (as  did  also  his  brother,  Halcott  Jones)  at  the  request  of 
a  maternal  uncle,  Halcott  Briggs  Pride. 

The  genealogical  data  just  given  we  gather  from  a  history  of 
the  Jones  family,  which  was  written  by  the  late  Colonel  Cad- 
wallader Jones  of  South  Carolina.  In  that  work  we  also  find  an 
anecdote  of  Judge  Sitgreaves  which  might  lead  one  to  think  that  he 
found  little  difficulty  in  ruling  his  house.  It  seems  that  on  one 
occasion  he  was  entertaining  a  party  of  friends,  including  General 
Davie.  When  the  company  had  been  there  a  short  time,  Sitgreaves 
turned  to  his  children  and  told  them  it  was  bedtime,  whereupon 


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400  NORTH  CAROLINA 

they  promptly  retired.  "You  see  we  have  them  well  trained," 
said  Mrs.  Sitg^eaves  to  General  Davie.  '*Yes/'  answered  the 
general,  "and  if  he  had  said,  *Mrs.  Sitgreaves,  it  is  time  to  retire/ 
you  would  have  marched  also." 

Judge  Sitgreaves  died  at  Halifax,  North  Carolina,  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1802.  His  death  is  noted  in  the  Raleigh  Register  of 
March  i6th  as  follows : 

"Died:  At  Halifax  on  the  4th  inst.,  John  Sitgreaves,  Esq.,  judge  of 
the  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  North  Carolina  District  He  served 
for  a  time  as  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  After  peace,  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  Congress  under  the  Confederation.  He  was  repeat- 
edly elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  this  State  for  his  native  town, 
New-Bern,  and  for  several  years  past  he  held  the  office  of  which  he  died 
possessed." 

The  monument  over  the  grave  of  Judge  Sitgreaves  at  Halifax 
records  the  fact  that  "After  spending  a  life  of  honor  and  integrity 
in  the  service  of  his  country,  he  ended  his  days  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1802,  aged  forty-five  years." 

By  an  etched  likeness,  which  is  the  work  of  Albert  Rosenthal 
of  Philadelphia,  and  taken  from  an  original  painting,  we  learn 
that  Judge  Sitgreaves  was  a  man  of  elegant  appearance  and  de- 
cidedly patrician  cast  of  countenance. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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BENJAMIN    SMITH 

N  the  settlement  of  Brunswick,  Roger  Moore 
came  from  South  Carolina  and  built  at  Orton 
his  plantation  about  two  miles  from  the  new 
town,  where  as  early  as  1734  he  kept  open 
house.  An  English  gentleman  who  visited  the 
Cape  Fear  in  that  year  along  with  thirteen  other 
lellow-travelers,  having  arrived  at  Brunswick,  says :  "Mr.  Roger 
Moore,  hearing  we  had  come,  was  so  kind  as  to  send  fresh  horses 
for  us  to  come  up  to  his  house,  which  we  did,  and  were  kindly 
received  by  him,  he  being  the  chief  gentleman  in  all  Cape  Fear. 
His  home  is  built  of  brick,  and  exceedingly  pleasantly  situated. 
He  has  a  pleasant  prospect  of  Brunswick  and  of  another  beautiful 
brick  house,  belonging  to  Eleazar  Allen,  Esq.,  late  speaker  to  the 
Commons  in  the  province  of  South  Carolina."  Roger  Moore 
married  first  Catherine  Rhett,  whose  sister  was  the  wife  of  Allen. 
Moore  and  Allen  were  of  the  Council,  and  remained  so  under 
Governor  Johnston.  Because  of  his  great  wealth  and  very  large 
number  of  slaves,  Roger  Moore  was  familiarly  known  as  "King 
Roger."  By  Miss  Rhett  he  had  a  daughter,  Sarah,  who  married 
Thomas  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  who  was  the  son  of  Colonel 
Thomas  Smith  and  Sabina  Smith,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Thomas, 
the  second  Landgrave  Smith  of  Carolina. 

In  1690  a  grant  of  20,000  acres  had  been  located  by  Landgrave 
Smith  on  the  Cape  Fear,  near  Brunswick,  and  the  deeds  of  1725 


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402  NORTH  CAROLINA 

called  for  and  recognized  that  line.  There  had  thus  apparently 
been  an  abortive  attempt  at  settling  the  Cape  Fear  at  that  early 
period  by  the  grandfather  of  Thomas  Smith,  who  married  Sarah 
Moore.  Sabina  Smith's  granddaughter,  Caroline,  married  Lucien 
Murat,  a  son  of  Marshall  Murat,  who  married  the  sister  of 
Napoleon ;  while  from  the  marriage  of  Sarah  Moore  and  Thomas 
Smith  are  sprung  the  Bees  and  Grimkes  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  Rhetts,  who  changed  their  name  from  Smith  to  that  of  their 
grandmother,  Catherine  Rhett,  whose  family  in  South  Carolina 
had  become  extinct;  and  Benjamin  Smith,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

Benjamin  Smith  inherited  not  merely  wealth,  but  fine  talents 
and  high  social  station. 

That  he  was  well  educated  is  quite  certain.  While  still  young, 
just  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  served  as  aide-de-camp  of  Gen- 
eral Washington  in  the  dangerous  but  masterly  retreat  from  Long 
Island  after  the  defeat  of  the  American  army  in  August,  1776.  He 
behaved  with  conspicuous  gallantry  in  the  brilliant  action  in  which 
Moultrie,  in  1779,  drove  the  British  from  Port  Royal  Island  and 
checked  for  a  time  the  invasion  of  South  Carolina.  A  Charleston 
paper  says :  **He  gave  on  many  occasions  such  various  proof  of 
activity  and  distinguished  bravery  as  to  merit  the  approbation 
of  his  impartial  country." 

In  1783  he  first  appeared  in  the  General  Assembly  of  North 
Carolina,  representing  Brunswick  County  in  the  Senate.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1788,  that  declined 
to  accept  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  in  that  body  co-operated 
with  Iredell  and  others  to  secure  its  adoption.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  convention  that  adopted  the  Constitution,  and  was  on  the 
committee  that  prepared  the  amendments  which  North  Carolina 
proposed  to  the  Constitution.  He  was  supported  for  senator  in 
1789,  but  Hawkins,  a  western  man,  was  elected. 

When  the  act  incorporating  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
was  passed  in  1789,  he  was  named  among  the  other  eminent  men 
who  composed  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  at  the  first  meeting 
of  the  board,  on  the  i8th  of  December,  1789,  he  donated  to  the 


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BENJAMIN  SMITH  403 

University  land  warrants  for  20,000  acres  of  land,  and  set  an 
example  for  others  to  follow  who  had  at  heart  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation. He  remained  a  trustee  of  the  University  until  1824,  and 
was  president  of  the  board  during  his  administration  as  governor 
of  the  State.  In  1791  he  again  became  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
and  except  the  three  years  of  1801,  1802  and  1803,  he  continued 
in  the  State  Senate  until  his  election  as  governor  in  the  fall  of 
1810,  and  he  was  again  in  the  Senate  in  1816.  He  was  speaker 
of  the  Senate  from  1795  to  1799.  In  1800,  although  a  member 
of  the  Senate,  he  was  defeated  for  speaker  of  that  body  by  Joseph 
Riddick,  and  at  the  next  election  he  was  defeated  for  senator  by 
William  Wingate.  About  that  time  partizan  politics  ran  so  high, 
and  the  overthrow  of  the  Federalists  by  the  Jeffersonian  Democ- 
racy was  so  hard  to  bear,  that  many  personal  conflicts  ensued. 
There  is  a  tradition  of  a  duel  that  Smith  fought  with  Thomas 
Leonard,  a  political  opponent,  arising  from  politics,  in  which  the 
General  was  seriously  wounded.  The  ball  could  not  be  extracted, 
and  he  carried  it  in  his  thigh  to  the  end  of  his  days.  Indeed, 
General  Smith  was  quick  to  resent  an  affront,  and  before  that 
had  been  engaged  in  several  duels.  When  there  was  danger  of 
war  with  France  in  1797,  he  was  appointed  general  of  the  militia, 
and  tlie  entire  militia  of  Brunswick  County,  officers  and  men, 
roused  to  enthusiasm  by  an  address  he  made,  full  of  energy  and 
fire,  volunteered  to  follow  his  lead  in  a  leponary  corps  for  service 
against  the  enemy. 

Up  to  1792  there  were  no  residences  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Johnston,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear.  About  that  time 
Mr.  Joshua  Potts  of  Wilmington  and  some  other  gentlemen  de- 
termined to  lay  off  a  town  there.  At  first  General  Smith,  who  was 
in  the  legislature,  was.  not  favorable  to  its  incorporation,  but  in 
that  year  he  gave  his  assent,  and  succeeded  in  having  the  act 
passed,  and  the  town  was  called  Smithville  in  his  honor.  But 
a  century  later  the  name  was  changed  to  Southport. 

General  Smith  married  Miss  Sarah  Dry,  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Colonel  William  Dry,  the  collector  of  the  port  in  colonial  times, 
and  a  gentleman  of  fine  education  and  accomplishments.    She  was 


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404  NORTH  CAROLINA 

a  direct  descendant  from  Cromwell's  admiral,  Robert  Blake,  and. 
like  General  Smith,  had  a  large  estate. 

General  Smith  had  become  security  for  Colonel  Reed,  the  col- 
lector of  the  port  of  Wilmington,  who  was  a  defaulter  to  the 
Government;  and  to  discharge  his  liability  General  Smith  con- 
tracted to  build  the  Tapia  work  at  the  fort,  and  in  1804  was 
engaged  in  doing  that.  It  was  a  very  large  undertaking,  the 
Tapia  being  made  from  raw  shells,  sand  and  water,  together  with 
lime,  that  was  burned  by  General  Smith  on  the  ground,  and  it 
entailed  great  expense,  which,  together  with  some  other  mis- 
fortunes, impaired  his  resources.  On  the  28th  of  June,  1805, 
General  Smith  fought  a  duel  with  Captain  Maurice  Moore,  the 
meeting  taking  place  in  South  Carolina,  where  stands  the  boundary* 
house  of  the  two  States,  the  line  running  through  the  center  of 
the  hall  of  entrance.  At  the  second  fire  General  Smith  received 
his  antagonist's  ball  in  his  side  and  fell,  but  after  a  few  weeks' 
confinement  he  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this  wound. 

In  social  accomplishments,  in  high  character  and  in  the  esteem 
of  the  gentlemen  on  the  Cape  Fear,  General  Smith  had  no 
superior.  It  was  from  his  garden  in  Smithville  that  Mrs.  Gibbs 
obtained  the  cutting  of  a  grape  vine,  which,  transplanted  to  New 
York  in  1824,  was  named  for  her  the  "Isabella  grape." 

General  Smith  was  a  statesman  of  pronounced  views.  He  was 
in  advance  of  his  generation.  On  his  election  as  governor  in  1810, 
he  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  penitentiary  system,  and  ap- 
pealed for  a  reform  of  the  too  sanguinary  criminal  code  of  the 
State;  recommended  domestic  manufactures,  and  urged  "that 
too  much  attention  could  not  be  paid  to  the  all-important  subject 
of  education.  A  certain  degree  of  education  should  be  placed 
within  the  reach  of  every  child  in  the  State.  I  am  persuaded  that 
a  plan  may  be  formed  upon  economical  principles  which  will  ex- 
tend this  boon  to  the  poor  of  every  neighborhood, .  and  at  an 
expense  trifling  beyond  expectation  when  compared  with  the  in- 
calculable benefits  from  such  a  philanthropic  system;"  and  he 
continued  to  urge  the  establishment  of  these  public  schools,  sub- 
ject to  proper  superintendence,  from  public  considerations.    Thus 


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BENJAMIN  SMITH  405 

by  precept  and  example  he  sought  to  interest  the  men  of  his  gen- 
eration in  the  subject  of  general  and  popular  education;  and  a 
man  of  large  benevolence,  he  promoted  enterprises  that  tended 
to  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  people.  He  was  a 
zealous  Mason,  and  for  three  years,  from  1808  to  181 1,  he  was 
Past  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  North  Carolina. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  January,  1826,  he  was  involved  in 
pecuniary  difficulties,  and  some  of  his  creditors  resorted  to  un- 
usual measures  to  procure  the  payment  of  their  debts,  and  in  his 
last  days  he  was  greatly  harrassed ;  but  on  the  close  of  his  eventful 
life  he  found  a  quiet  resting  place  in  the  graveyard  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  at  Wilmington. 

In  1853  General  Joseph  Gardner  Swift  of  New  York,  who  had 
in  his  younger  days  enjoyed  intimate  association  with  General 
Smith,  caused  to  be  erected  over  the  grave  of  Mrs.  Smith  in  the 
old  Brunswick  Cemetery  a  marble  slab  with  this  inscription: 
"In  Memory  of  that  Excellent  Lady,  Sarah  Rhett  Dry  Smith, 
who  died  the  21st  of  November,  1821,  aged  59  years.  Also  of 
her  Husband,  Benjamin  Smith  of  Belvedere,  once  Governor  of 
North  Carolina,  who  died  January,  1826,  aged  70." 

S,  A.  Ashe. 


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SETH    SOTHEL 

[Y  the  fundamental  constitution  of  the  colony  of 
Carolina  it  was  provided  that  when  one  of  the 
Lords  Proprietors  came  in  person  to  their  do- 
main, he  should  be  the  palatine's  deputy,  which 
was  virtually  governor,  as  palatine  was  the  title 
borne  by  the  principal  member  of  the  company 
of  Lords  Proprietors.  One  of  the  Proprietors,  the  Earl  of  Qaren- 
don,  sold  his  share  in  the  colony  to  a  person  whose  surname  we 
find  variously  recorded  as  Sothel,  Sothell  and  Southwell.  The 
orthography  first  given  seems  to  be  the  one  used  by  the  new  Pro- 
prietor himself,  who  came  to  Carolina  and  claimed  (with  indiffer- 
ent success)  the  right  to  govern. 

Seth  Sothel,  for  such  was  the  full  name  of  the  above  dignitary, 
spent  about  fifteen  years  of  his  life  in  enterprises  connected  with 
the  colony  of  Carolina.  In  an  extract  from  the  Shaftesbury 
Papers,  published  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  we  find  a  letter, 
dated  1675,  from  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  also  one  of  the  Lords 
Proprietors,  recommending  Sothel  to  the  governor  and  Council 
at  Ashley  River,  in  Carolina,  as  a  person  of  large  estate  in  Eng- 
land who  had  undertaken  to  make  a  settlement  in  the  colony.  The 
same  letter  contained  an  order  that  a  manorial  estate  of  12,000 
acres  should  be  granted  to  Sothel  on  condition  that  within  five 
years  he  should  build  thereon  a  town  of  at  least  thirty  houses 
and  settle  six  score  people  therein.  "Pray  treat  this  gentleman 
as  my  friend"  is  Shaftesbury's  concluding  remark. 


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SETH  SOTHEL  407 


The  above  order  from  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  prior  to  the  time 
when  Sothel  himself  became  one  of  the  Proprietors.  Though  in 
after  years  Sothel  became  governor  by  right  of  his  being  one  of 
the  Proprietors,  his  first  appointment  was  as  governor  of  the 
"County  Albemarle,"  and  was  some  time  before  1679.  The  office 
was  then  conferred  on  him  by  the  Proprietors.  He  did  not  take 
possession  of  the  office  on  this  first  occasion,  however,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  ship  on  which  he  sailed  was  captured  by  pirates 
and  carried  to  Algiers.  While  he  was  a  prisoner  the  Proprietors 
appointed  John  Harvey  governor  of  the  county  of  Albemarle, 
which  afterward  was  known  as  North  Carolina.  Escaping,  or 
having  been  ransomed  from  the  pirates,  Sothel  a  year  or  two  later 
purchased  Lord  Clarendon's  rights,  and  thereby  himself  became 
one  of  the  "True  and  Absolute  Lords  Proprietors."  He  then  set 
out  for  America  with  a  commission,  issued  in  September,  1681, 
which  showed  his  right  to  assume  the  government  of  the  colony, 
being  signed  by  the  Earl  of  Craven,  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  and 
Sir  Peter  Colleton. 

Sothel  came  from  South  Carolina  to  North  Carolina  about  1683. 
After  remaining  a  few  years,  he  was  charged  with  all  manner  of 
crimes  and  misdemeanors.  Some  of  the  specifications  against  him 
in  a  complaint  sent  to  the  Lords  Proprietors  were  as  follows: 
That  he  seized  and  imprisoned  two  persons  coming  from  Bar- 
badoes  on  the  pretense  that  they  were  pirates,  though  they  pro- 
duced dockets  from  the  governor  of  Barbadoes  showing  that  they 
were  lawful  traders;  that  one  of  these  sea  captains,  Richard 
Humphrey,  died  in  captivity  of  grief  and  ill  usage,  leaving  a  will, 
with  Thomas  Pollock  as  executor;  that  Sothel  would  not  let 
Pollock  qualify  as  executor,  but  seized  Humphrey's  goods  and 
converted  them  to  his  own  use ;  that  he  imprisoned  Pollock  when 
that  gentleman  started  to  England  with  complaints  against  the 
governor;  that  he  accepted  bribes  for  quashing  indictments  for 
felony  and  treason ;  that  he  unlawfully  imprisoned  Robert  Cannon ; 
that  he  unlawfully  withheld  from  John  Stewart  one  negro  and 
seven  pewter  dishes,  which  were  his  property ;  that  he  imprisoned 
George  Durant  and  appropriated  his  property ;  that  he  seized  the 


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4o8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

plantations  of  John  Tomlin,  John  Harris  and  one  Mowberry,  and 
committed  other  acts  of  like  character.  The  colonists  could  stand 
a  good  deal ;  but  when  one  of  their  governors  endeavored  to  get 
possession  of  nearly  everything  in  the  colony,  from  plantations 
down  to  negroes  and  pewter  dishes,  they  rebelled.  They  finally 
proceeded  to  seize  the  governor,  and  were  about  to  send  him  a 
prisoner  to  England,  when  he  begged  them  not  to  do  so,  but  to 
submit  the  whole  matter  to  the  Colonial  Assembly,  whose  decision 
he  promised  to  abide  by.  The  Assembly  adjudged  that  he  should 
leave  the  colony  for  one  year  and  renounce  the  governorship 
forever.  The  Lords  Proprietors  also  sent  an  order  about  the  same 
time,  December  2,  1689,  removing  him  from  office  and  appointing 
Phillip  Ludwell  in  his  stead. 

Being  banished  from  North  Carolina  for  one  year,  Sothel  went 
to  South  Carolina,  and  there  also  claimed  the  office  of  governor 
as  his  proprietary  right.  From  a  recent  history  of  that  State  by 
McCrady,  entitled  "South  Carolina  under  the  Proprietary  Govern- 
ment, 1670-1719,"  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  Sothel  there  en- 
joyed a  good  reputation.  At  least,  McCrady  says :  "Sothel  was  a 
man  of  remarkable,  if  not  good,  character  and  of  great  ability. 
He  had  been  sent  in  1680  to  regelate  the  distracted  affairs  in  the 
colony  at  Albemarle,  and  on  his  voyage  out  had  been  captured  by 
Algerine  pirates,  three  years  thus  elapsing  before  his  arrival  in 
America.  .  .  .  Whatever  may  have  been  Sothel's  private  character, 
however  avaricious  and  disreputable,  however  tyrannical  and 
oppressive  his  conduct  for  personal  gain,  yet  the  wisdom  and 
liberality  of  the  laws  he  enacted,  the  legislative  activity  displayed 
in  restoring  stability  to  the  colony,  and  his  judicious  conduct  in 
promoting  the  just  wishes  of  the  people,  throw  a  doubt,  observes 
Rivers,  as  to  the  malignant  character  that  has  been  ascribed  to 
him  as  a  public  officer." 

When  Governor  Sothel  had  left  North  Carolina,  and  Ludwell 
had  been  appointed  his  successor,  there  appeared  another  claim- 
ant to  the  office  of  governor  of  Albemarle  in  the  person  of  Colonel 
John  Gibbs,  who  was  a  cousin  of  the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  one  of 
the  Lords  Proprietors.    Whether  Gibbs  claimed  under  a  deputa- 


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SETH  SOTHEL  409 


tion  from  the  Duke,  or  whether  the  deposed  Sothel  claimed  the 
right  to  make  a  deputy  and  appointed  him  governor,  is  not  known. 
At  any  rate,  Gibbs  meant  to  give  notice  that  he  was  not  a  man 
to  be  trifled  with,  for  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  deliver  himself 
of  a  proclamation  and  general  challenge  beginning  as  follows: 
"Colonel  John  Gibbs  doth  Publish  and  declare,  that  Phillip  Ludwel 
is  a  Rascal,  impostor  and  Usurper,  all  of  which  shall  be  justified 
in  England.  And  if  any  of  the  boldest  Heroes  living  in  this 
or  the  next  County  will  undertake  to  Justifie  the  said  Ludwel's 
Illegal  irregular  proceeding,  let  him  call  upon  me  with  his  sword, 
and  I  will  single  out  and  goe  with  him  into  any  part  of  the  King's 
Dominions  and  there  fight  him  in  this  cause  as  long  as  my  eye- 
lidds  shall  wagg."  Gibbs  had  about  eighty  armed  men  under  his 
command,  and  with  this  force  seized  two  magistrates  who  were 
holding  a  precinct  court  without  his  commission  therefor,  and 
held  them  as  prisoners.  A  force  of  colonists  was  soon  raised 
against  him,  and  he  then  fled  to  Virginia. 

After  Sothel's  term  of  banishment  from  North  Carolina  had 
expired,  he  returned  to  the  colony,  and  died  in  the  year  1694.  In 
the  North  Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for  Janu- 
ary, 1900,  it  is  said  of  the  governor's  wife:  ''Madam  Ann 
Sothel  married  for  her  fourth  husband  Colonel  John  Lear  of 
Nansemond  County,  Virginia.  She  at  first  appears  as  Ann  Willis 
of  Ipswich,  Massachusetts." 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


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JAMES    HAYWOOD   SOUTHGATE 


HE  gentleman  whose  name  stands  at  the  head 
of  this  sketch  represents  in  a  striking  manner 
the  rise  of  a  class  of  young  and  influential  busi- 
ness men  in  the  South  since  the  Civil  War  who 
are  to-day  more  an  indication  of  what  Southern 
society  is  coming  to  be  than  any  other  class  of 
people  in  it.  These  men  are  broad  in  their  business  ideals,  free 
from  local  or  social  prejudices,  active  in  seizing  opportunities 
of  personal  and  community  progress,  and  can  be  relied  on  to  give 
a  turn  to  the  development  of  the  future  which  is  both  fortunate 
and  essential.  They  are  going  to  be,  as  it  seems,  the  representa- 
tive men  of  the  new  South  as  truly  as  the  old  planters  were  the 
exponents  of  the  old  South.  Among  these  men  are  many  of  those 
whose  biographies  are  recorded  in  these  volumes;  but  of  all  of 
them  none  is  more  truly  a  representative  man  than  James  Hay- 
wood Southgate. 

This  gentleman  unites  in  his  family  the  best  characteristics  of 
the  people  of  the  States  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  His 
father,  James  Southgate,  of  King  and  Queen  County,  Virginia, 
left  the  famous  university  at  Charlottesville  in  1832.  From  that 
time  till  1862  he  conducted  a  prosperous  military  academy  at 
Norfolk,  Virginia.  In  1858  he  married  Miss  Delia  Wynne  of 
Louisburg,  North  Carolina.  She  was  a  woman  of  extraordinary 
mind,  and  she  had  received  excellent  instruction  from  Professor 


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JAMES  HAYWOOD  SOUTHGATE  411 

A.  H.  Ray  of  Louisburg,  North  Carolina,  whose  reputation  for 
skill  in  pedagogy  has  survived  till  this  day.  In  1862  Norfolk  was 
occupied  by  the  Northern  amiy,  and  the  school  over  which  Mr. 
Southgate  presided  was  broken  up.  He  volunteered  for  the  Con- 
federate service,  joining  the  Norfolk  Artillery  Blues.  His  wife 
took  her  children  with  her  and  "refugeed"  to  Louisburg,  North 
Carolina,  where  she  opened  a  school  for  girls.  She  was  so  suc- 
cessful that  in  1864  her  husband  left  the  army  and  came  to  assist 
her.  Together  they  had  charge  of  the  Louisburg  Female  College, 
and  had  remarkable  success,  considering  the  disturbed  state  of 
society,  until  the  end  of  the  war  so  prostrated  all  people  of  means 
that  it  was  necessary  to  discontinue  the  enterprise. 

Soon  after  the  war  ended  he  was  given  charge  of  OHn  College, 
in  Iredell  County,  North  Carolina.  Here  he  had  a  successful 
career  till  the  winter  of  1871-72,  when  he  removed  to  Hillsboro, 
North  Carolina,  to  engage  in  a  general  commission  business.  The 
neighboring  town  of  Durham  was  then  in  its  infancy.  He  had  a 
presentment  of  what  it  was  going  to  be,  and  in  1876  he  removed 
thither  and  opened  a  general  fire  and  life  insurance  business.  By 
upright  business  methods,  and  by  careful  attention  to  business,  he 
won  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  the  town,  and  from  that  day 
till  this  he  has  been  one  of  the  leading  business  factors  in  the  place. 

Three  daughters  and  one  son  were  born  to  Mr.  Southgate  and 
his  wife,  Delia  Wynne.  The  latter  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
He  was  bom  in  Norfolk,  July  12,  1859.  His  earliest  recollections 
are  those  of  the  war.  In  the  first  days  of  the  bitterness  of  Recon- 
struction he  received  his  first  impressions  of  the  problems  of  life. 
It  is  a  tribute  to  his  largeness  of  heart  that  they  were  not  those 
of  hatred  and  despair. 

When  his  father  removed  to  Hillsboro  the  boy  was  twelve  years 
old.  He  had  already  acquired  the  first  steps  in  an  educa'tion  from 
his  mother's  instruction.  Now  he  was  sent  to  the  academy  of 
Major  D.  H.  Hamilton  in  Hillsboro.  Here  he  came  under  a  man 
who  was  bom  a  teacher.  To  this  day  Mr.  Southgate  speaks  in 
the  terms  of  the  highest  praise  of  his  methods.  Later  he  attended 
the  military  academy  of  Homer  &  Graves  in  the  same  place,  and 


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412  NORTH  CAROLINA 

from  there,  in  1876,  entered  the  State  University  at  Chapel  Hill. 
Here  he  had  a  short  stay.  In  1878  he  conceived  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  help  his  father  in  the  latter's  office.  He  had  determined 
to  be  a  physician,  and  he  was  led  to  believe  that  the  graduation 
was  not  entirely  necessary  for  that  profession.  The  opinion  was 
erroneous,  but  he  was  never  to  have  a  chance  to  prove  it  in  his 
own  career,  for  the  charm  of  business  life  took  hold  of  him 
so  deeply  that  he  could  not  shake  it  off.  He  is  a  man  who  loves 
whatever  he  is  engaged  in,  and  who  puts  into  it  a  pride  of  achieve- 
ment which  makes  it  a  part  of  his  life.  He  desired  to  make  the 
insurance  business  of  J.  Southgate  &  Son  the  most  successful 
enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the  State.  It  is  probable  that  his  desire 
has  been  gained.  Certainly,  there  are  not  many  centers  of  the 
underwriting  interests  in  the  Union  in  which  the  firm  name  is 
not  well  and  favorably  known. 

But  Mr.  Southgate's  greatest  success  is  not  as  a  business  man, 
although  in  that  sphere  he  is  pre-eminent.  He  is  one  of  the 
very  greatest  citizens  in  the  State,  not  because  he  has  been  most 
successful  in  the  pursuit  of  office,  but  because  he  has  always  and 
with  the  very  highest  type  of  success  sought  to  serve  the  public 
in  the  capacity  of  a  mere  citizen.  There  are  few  issues  of  public 
concern  in  which  he  has  not  set  a  standard  to  every  voter  in  the 
independence  of  judgment  which  is  the  very  essence  of  a  workable 
democracy.  He  has  never  been  a  servant  of  passion.  He  has 
never  held  the  public  service  in  the  light  of  an  opportunity  for 
selfish  promotion.  He  has  been  the  best  type  of  the  business  man 
who  is  also  a  conscientious  servant  of  the  public  in  its  political 
capacity.  Had  he  chosen  to  enter  politics  in  a  selfish  way— one 
hears  a  hundred  people  say  it — ^he  might  long  since  have  reached 
the  goal  of  any  politician's  ambition  in  North  Carolina.  A  man 
of  striking  appearance,  tall,  forceful,  magnetic  and  commanding, 
he  towers  over  any  other  speaker  in  the  ordinary  political  assembly. 
His  deep,  far-reaching  and  musical  voice,  his  breadth  of  mind,  his 
balanced  judgment,  and  his  effective  imagery  give  him  the  mastery 
over  his  hearers.  In  whatever  cause  and  in  whatever  section  of 
the  country  he  has  spoken,  he  made  a  profound  impression.    That 


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JAMES  HAYWOOD  SOUTHGATE  413 

a  man  whose  best  efforts  are  given  to  the  conduct  of  a  large  busi- 
ness should  still  have  it  in  him  to  take  so  prominent  a  part  in  public 
affairs  is  not  less  than  remarkable. 

In  1885,  when  he  was  twenty-six  years  old,  he  left  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  where  he  had  been  up  to  that  time  a  loyal  voter.  His 
reasons  were  not  selfish,  for  he  had  never  appeared  before  that 
party  in  the  light  of  a  candidate  for  any  favor  whatever.  There 
were  certain  ideas  in  which  he  believed,  and  he  sought  an  organi- 
zation in  which  he  might  find  them  expressed.  He  concluded  that 
these  were  most  likely  to  be  advanced  by  the  Prohibition  Party, 
and  with  that  body  of  citizens  he  threw  in  his  fortunes.  He  was 
not,  and  has  never  been,  a  fanatic.  But  he  made  a  very  practical 
thing  of  his  theories,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  risk  his  exercise  of 
citizenship  upon  them.  From  1885  till  to-day  he  has  been  a 
constant  defender  of  his  party.  He  has  believed  that  as  a  great 
moral  organization  it  was  bound  to  triumph.  Through  defeat, 
through  ridicule,  through  hopelessness,  and  while  a  hundred 
friends  have  urged  him  to  come  into  one  or  the  other  of  the  larger 
parties,  he  has  not  wavered  an  iota. 

Among  Prohibitionists  Mr.  Southgate  has  been  a  favorite 
speaker.  On  several  occasions  he  has  been  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Prohibition  conventions.  In  1896  the  party  divided  into 
two  camps,  one  of  which  contended  for  prohibition  as  a  sole  issue 
and  the  other  for  a  general  economic  programme,  only  one  feature 
of  which  was  the  restriction  of  the  sale  of  liquor.  Mr.  Southgate 
took  sides  with  the  latter  group,  which  called  itself  the  National 
Party.  In  the  convention  of  this  party  he  was  placed  on  the 
ticket  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  his  running  mate 
being  Charles  E.  Bentley  of  Nebraska.  In  conducting  his  cam- 
paign he  made  many  speeches  in  other  parts  of  the  Union,  par- 
ticularly in  the  Northwest.  Everywhere  he  was  received  with 
marked  favor,  even  by  those  who  did  not  support  his  ticket. 

Mr.  Southgate  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  For  twenty-five  years  he  has  held  official  position  in  it. 
Besides  being  a  Stewart  in  his  local  congregation,  he  has  been  for 
many  years  on  the  educational  and  Sunday-school  committees  of 


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414  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  North  Carolina  Conference.  In  1902  he  was  a  lay  delegate 
from  this  body  to  the  General  Conference,  which  met  in  Dallas, 
Texas.  He  has  also  been  prominently  connected  with  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  the  State  and  the  North  Carolina 
State  Sunday-school  Association.  In  1877  he  was  secretary  of 
the  first  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  convention  held  in 
North  Carolina.  It  is  characteristic  of  him  that  while  loyal  and 
active  in  his  service  toward  his  own  church,  he  should  be  also 
deeply  interested  in  these  other  interdenominational  bodies.  No 
man  could  be  less  sectarian  than  he. 

Mr.  Southgate  is  deeply  interested  in  education.  From  the  time 
that  it  was  decided  to  remove  Trinity  College  to  Durham  he  has 
been  its  earnest  supporter.  This  was  true  notwithstanding  he  had 
attended  another  institution  himself.  To  Dr.  Crowell,  whose 
presidency  of  the  college  extended  from  1887  till  1894,  he  gave 
a  warm  support.  In  the  many  dark  hours  of  the  college's  history 
during  the  first  years  at  Durham  his  advice  was  freely  given  and 
gladly  received.  When  Dr.  Kilgo  became  president,  he  found  in 
Mr.  Southgate  the  same  disinterested  and  valuable  ally.  In  1897 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  college 
to  succeed  Colonel  J.  W.  Alspaugh  of  Winston-Salem,  whose  in- 
cumbency of  the  presidency  had  lasted  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  In  this  important  position  he  has  rendered  valuable 
service.  He  has  presided  over  board  meetings  in  some  crises  out 
of  which  very  much  criticism  has  grown;  but  in  none  of  them 
has  his  rulings  been  called  into  question  by  either  side.  In  the 
matter  which  grew  out  of  the  resignation  of  Professor  Bassett  his 
stand  for  academic  freedom  was  recognized  by  all  as  fair,  able  and 
very  influential.  One  of  the  strongest  qualities  of  his  nature  is 
the  faculty  of  keeping  his  head.  He  is  possessed  of  immense  calm 
and  well-poised  judgment.  Although  a  man  of  positive  con- 
victions, he  is  able  to  see  both  sides  of  a  question. 

December  5,  1882,  Mr.  Southgate  was  married  to  Miss  Kate 
Shepard  Fuller,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  B.  Fuller  of  Durham.  She  was 
a  woman  of  marked  force  of  character.  Four  children  were  bom 
to  them,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.    In  February,  1893,  Mrs. 


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JAMES  HAYWOOD  SOUTHGATE  415 

Southgate  was  called  away  from  her  earthly  home*  Around  the 
two  children  who  were  left  to  him  the  husband  built  all  his 
affections  and  hopes.  But  again  death  struck  at  these  hopes.  In 
1898  one  of  these  sole  remaining  comforts,  a  beautiful  daughter 
on  the  verge  of  maidenhood,  was  taken.  These  blows  made  a 
deep  impression  on  his  life.  But  his  massive  shoulders  have  never 
staggered  under  their  weight.  He  is  firm,  strong  and  self-centered 
as  ever,  and  he  lives,  although  widowed  and  alone,  without  the 
gloom  of  despair  or  the  bitterness  of  isolation. 

Mr.  Southgate  has  great  powers  of  friendship.  He  is  a  loyal 
member  of  several  fraternal  orders,  among  them  the  Masons  and 
the  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  is  warm-hearted,  companionable  and 
hospitable.  He  is  fond  of  music.  In  fact,  he  comes  of  a  musical 
family;  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Lessie  Southgate  Simmons,  is  one 
of  the  most  talented  musicians  ever  bom  in  the  State.  He  has 
taken  much  interest  in  the  development  of  music  in  Durham, 
especially  in  the  establishment  of  the  Durham  Conservatory  of 
Music. 

Thus  he  is  pre-eminent  as  a  man  of  business,  as  a  citizen,  as  a 
political  speaker,  as  a  leader  of  religious  life,  as  a  promoter  of  the 
cause  of  education,  as  a  patron  of  the  most  important  branch  of  the 
fine  arts  patronized  in  the  State,  and  as  a  man  of  influence  among 
his  fdlow-men.  How  many  other  North  Carolinians  can  show 
such  well-rounded  development  in  so  many  of  the  best  qualities 
of  a  faithful  servant  of  men? 

John  Spencer  Bassett, 


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FRANK   SHEPHERD   SPRUILL 

JRANK  SHEPHERD  SPRUILL,  one  of  the 
strong  public  men  residing  in  the  central  part  of 
the  State,  was  bom  in  Martin  County,  North 
Carolina,  December  9,  1862.  He  is  the  third 
child  of  William  E.  Spruill  and  Harriet  Arring- 
ton,  blending  Scotch-Irish  on  the  paternal  side 
with  English  on  the  maternal. 

During  the  Civil  War  his  father,  who  was  in  the  Confederate 
service,  removed  his  family  from  their  home  in  the  exposed  terri- 
tory of  Martin  County,  frequently  the  scene  of  Federal  raiding 
parties,  to  a  more  secure  location  in  Halifax  County;  and  here 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  grew  into  manhood  under  influences 
belonging  to  life  on  a  typical  Southern  plantation.  Reared  amid 
affluence,  he  was  fond  of  country  life,  sports  and  scenes,  and 
developed  under  their  training  a  vigorous  and  alert  intellect  in  a 
sound  and  robust  body.  His  education,  begun  at  the  celebrated 
Bingham  School,  was  completed  at  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina. He  was  an  apt  pupil,  fond  of  his  books,  and  with  an  ardent 
purpose  to  excel  in  whatever  he  undertook.  Gifted  with  a  strong 
and  logical  mind,  and  endowed  in  a  high  degree  with  oratorical 
powers,  he  naturally  selected  the  law  as  his  profession,  and  ad- 
dressed himself  to  its  study  at  the  University.  Obtaining  his 
license  in  February,  1884,  he  first  located  at  Henderson,  where 
he  was  associated  with  William  H.  Young,  Esq. ;  but  after  a  year 


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]i\\r\* '^f'  to  t^v"  i  111  \s'Mti*v«T  he  HI  •;<  rU) 'k.     'I'lt-'i  v^'.   4 
p-vl  1   :."«'a!  n.Mi  |,  ar^^l  trA  )\\t  ^  in  a  ^'.^'h  «!  l."'*  w    '^     : 
[V   A'-Tv,  lie  iMf'r.nly   ^t-'*-  t«  (1   t^v    law  as  hi>   j'T'  f  •'>•    r.    . 
•  Ir'--^-.;    i^r:  -'f   t-^    It<;    ^t'ldy   Pt   th--    I 'nl\-r-:tv.      f  •'.*  .     • 
h.ir^.o   •:;   T-^ri-, 'v.    iS'4    h^  tir>r   !.  v-.tr-i  at    Hr-,  !  --   :.. 
ho  was  a >s*.'i  iS'-l  v  ••:i  Wi^'-an^  H.  ^^^':•'C^•  »  '  I  ^  ^'"^  •  :'•  ' 


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PUBLIC  UBRAnY 

,       *r  :  V,  UEMOX  ANb 
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FRANKLIN  SHEPHERD  SPRUILL  417 

he  removed  to  Louisburg,  where  he  fortunately  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Hon.  Joseph  J.  Davis,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
and  most  esteemed  citizens  of  Franklin  County.  Mr,  Davis  had 
the  entire  confidence  and  respect  not  only  of  his  own  community, 
but  of  the  entire  Congressional  district  which  he  represented  in 
Congress,  and  the  association  was  not  only  agreeable  in  itself,  but 
was  of  advantage  in  at  once  establishing  Mr.  Spruill  on  a  high 
plane  and  securing  him  the  favor  of  the  best  people  in  the  coimties 
where  they  practiced ;  and  this  partnership  continued  until  Judge 
Davis  was  appointed  to  the  Supreme  Court  bench. 

Having  a  large  and  extensive  practice  from  the  beginning,  Mr. 
Spruill  soon  attained  an  important  position  at  the  bar,  and  became 
a  man  of  influence  in  politics.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  all 
political  matters,  and  entered  zealously  and  with  great  vigor  into 
all  campaigns.  As  his  reputation  extended,  his  services  became 
in  constant  demand  by  the  Stat^  Executive  Committee  to  make 
canvasses  in  other  parts  of  the  State;  In  the  year  1888  he  was 
a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  at  St.  Louis  which  nom- 
inated Grover  Cleveland  for  President,  and  he  made  a  brilliant 
campaign  for  his  election.  In  1893  he  represented  Franklin 
County  in  the  legislature,,  and  he  was  an  active  and  influential 
member.  He  rendered  conspicuous  service  on  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee and  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  but  in  particular  did  he  dis- 
tinguish himself  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Railroads  and 
Railroad  Commissioners,  and  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  con- 
troversy with  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  on  the  sub- 
ject of  requiring  that  company  to  pay  appropriate  and  just  taxes. 

Governor  Carr,  in  recognition  of  his  fine  service,  appointed  him 
a  director  of  the  State  Prison,  but  that  particular  public  work 
was  not  agreeable  to  Mr.  Spruill,  and  he  resigned  the  appointment. 
He  was  at  once  appointed  a  director  of  the  North  Carolina  Rail- 
road. It  was  during  his  term  as  a  director  that  the  proposition 
was  made  by  the  Southern  Railroad  Company  to  lease  the  North 
Carolina  Railroad  Company  for  a  period  of  ninety-nine  years. 
Governor  Carr  was  much  in  favor  of  the  proposition,  but  Mr. 
Spruill  objected  to  it;  in  the  first  place,  the  old  lease  had  not 


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4i8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

expired,  and  public  notice  had  not  been  given  to  lease  the  road 
at  that  time,  so  there  were  no  competitive  bids,  and  the  period 
for  which  the  lease  was  proposed  was  so  long  that  it  amounted 
almost  to  a  sale  of  the  property.  For  these  and  other  reasons 
Mr.  Spruill  was  constrained  to  differ  from  the  policy  of  Governor 
Carr,  who  had  appointed  him,  and  he  spoke  and  voted  against  the 
measure.  During  Mr.  Cleveland's  second  term,  in  1897,  Mr. 
Spruill  was  appointed  assistant  United  States  district  attorney 
for  the  eastern  district  of  North  Carolina,  a  position  which  he 
filled  with  admirable  acumen  and  with  great  ability. 

In  1904  the  Democrats  of  Franklin  County,  in  order  to  extri- 
cate themselves  from  an  impending  political  complication,  pre- 
vailed on  Mr.  Spruill  again  to  accept  the  nomination  to  represent 
them  in  the  House,  and  on  yielding  to  their  request  he  made  a 
speech  that  is  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  county.  Later,  how- 
ever, when  the  Democratic  State  Convention  met  at  Greensboro, 
he  was  nominated  by  acclamation  as  one  of  the  two  candidates 
for  Presidential  elector  for  the  State  at  large,  and  he  felt  that  the 
party  had  a  right  to  his  services  in  that  extended  field.  This 
necessarily  led  to  his  resignation  of  his  candidacy  for  the  House, 
and  he  at  once  entered  upon  an  extensive  compaign  of  the  State, 
which  was  remarkable  for  its  brilliancy.  Indeed,  as  a  popular 
speaker  Mr.  Spruill  ranks  among  the  foremost  of  the  public 
men  in  North  Carolina.  His  addresses  in  the  campaign  to  secure 
the  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amendment  and  in  the  Presi- 
dential campaign  of  1904  have  been  pronounced  by  competent 
judges  to  be  among  the  very  best  types  of  forensic  eloquence  ever 
heard  in  the  State.  He  speaks  with  clearness  and  cogency,  with 
eloquence  and  pathos,  and  he  sways  his  audience  with  rare  power, 
combining  the  art  of  an  orator  with  the  skill  of  the  practiced 
campaigner.  What  has  been  declared  by  competent  judges  to  be 
the  best  piece  of  campaign  oratory  ever  delivered  by  Mr.  Spruill 
was  a  speech  delivered  by  him  at  Louisburg,  in  1902,  in  reply  to 
an  address  made  there  by  Senator  Pritchard.  There  had  been 
organized  at  Louisburg  and  launched  with  much  noise  and  pub- 
licity a  "Young  Men's  Republican  Business  League."    From  it 


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FRANKLIN  SHEPHERD  SPRUILL  419 

the  Republicans  in  the  State  expected  great  results,  and  Senator 
Pritchard  had  been  brought  from  Washington  to  deliver  to  its 
members  an  address,  which  it  was  hoped  would  make  the  league 
a  factor  in  the  politics  of  the  State  to  be  reckoned  with.  Con- 
ditions in  the  county  were  favorable  for  such  a  result.  The 
electorate  of  the  county  was  greatly  unsettled.  Hundreds  of  men 
who  had  been  Democrats  were  wavering  in  their  political  beliefs, 
and  were  in  a  frame  of  mind  so  receptive  to  Republican  teachings 
that  the  ascendancy  of  the  Democracy  was  trembling  in  the 
balance.  An  immense  crowd  was  present  to  hear  Senator 
Pritchard,  and  his  speech  was  adroit  and  eloquent.  Mr.  Spruill 
heard  the  speech,  saw  the  great  peril  in  which  his  party  was  placed, 
and  knew  that  Senator  Pritchard's  speech  unanswered  meant 
possibly  its  overthrow.  When  the  senator  had  concluded,  in  re- 
sponse to  a  call  from  a  few  stalwart  Democrats,  he  took  the  stand. 
With  a  logic  that  was  pitiless,  and  an  eloquence  that  was  almost 
inspired,  he  swept  down  one  after  another  Senator  Pritchard's 
positions,  until  the  great  crowd,  that  had  just  a  short  half  hour 
before  been  ready  to  ally  itself  with  the  league,  shouted  itself 
hoarse  with  Democratic  huzzas.  In  some  respects  it  was  the  most 
striking  instance  of  the  power  of  eloquent  oratory  ever  seen  in 
the  State.  From  the  moment  he  closed  the  "Young  Men's  Re- 
publican Business  League"  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  The  club 
never  met  again. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  in  his  chosen  profession  as  a  lawyer  that  he 
has  won  his  most  enduring  fame.  Careful  and  painstaking  in  the 
preparation  of  his  cases,  tireless  in  energy  and  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  his  client's  cause,  he  unites  to  legal  learning  the 
address  of  the  polished  advocate,  and  has  attained  an  enviable 
position  in  the  first  class  of  nisi  prius  lawyers  in  North  Carolina. 

A  graduate  of  the  University,  for  twelve  years  he  has  been  a 
trustee  of  that  institution,  and  has  been  greatly  interested  in  pro- 
moting the  advancement  of  his  alma  mater.  He  has  contributed 
with  others  to  secure  that  growth  and  progress  which  has  been 
so  remarkable  in  the  career  of  the  University  within  the  past 
decade,  and  which  now  more  than  ever  renders  that  institution 


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420  NORTH  CAROLINA 

an  honor  to  the   State  and  a  credit  to  the  people  of   North 
Carolina. 

In  1886  Mr.  Spruill  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Alice  Cape- 
hart  Winston,  a  lovely  and  beautiful  daughter  of  Hon.  Patrick 
Henry  Winston  and  Martha  Elizabeth  Byrd,  and  a  sister  of  four 
of  the  State's  most  distinguished  sons.  To  this  union  three 
children  have  been  bom.  Mr.  Spruill  has  felt  that  it  is  to  his  wife's 
intelligence  and  sympathetic  assistance  that  he  owes  in  large 
measure  the  success  he  has  attained  in  his  profession  and  in  his 
life. 

Mr.  Spruill  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  for  fifteen 
years  he  has  been  a  vestryman  in  St.  Paul's  parish,  Louisburg. 

At  the  University  he  was  a  member  of  the  A.  T.  O.  fraternity 
and  of  the  Philanthropic  Society. 

W.  H,  Macon. 


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JAMES  J.   THOMAS 

[APTAIN  JAMES  J.  THOMAS,  president  of 
the  Commercial  and  Farmers'  Bank,  and  one 
of  the  leading  business  men  of  Raleigh,  was 
bom  in  Franklin  County,  July  19,  183 1.  He 
is  a  descendant  of  Isaac  Hunter,  one  of  the 
leading  inhabitants  of  Wake  County  just  after 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  a  kinsman  of  Theophilus  Hunter, 
chairman  of  the  first  County  Court  and  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
militia  of  Wake  County,  whose  plantation,  called  "Hunter's 
Lodge,"  to  the  south  of  the  site  of  Raleigh,  was  occupied  by 
Governor  Tryon  on  his  march  against  the  Regulators.  But  Isaac 
Hunter,  while  he  owned  a  great  deal  of  land  in  the  county,  resided 
at  the  forks  of  the  Louisburg  and  Forestville  road,  his  chief  plan- 
tation being  on  the  north  side  of  Crabtree,  on  the  great  road  be- 
tween the  north  and  the  interior  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
It  was  so  well  known  that  when  the  State  convention  in  1788 
determined  to  locate  the  seat  of  government  for  the  State,  there 
never  having  been  any  fixed  capital,  there  were  placed  in  nomina- 
tion the  towns  of  Smithfield,  Tarboro,  Fayetteville,  New-Bern  and 
Hillsboro,  and  Isaac  Hunter's  plantation  in  Wake  County.  On 
the  first  ballot  there  was  no  choice,  but  on  the  second  ballot  Isaac 
Hunter's  plantation  was  chosen,  and  a  bill  was  passed  to  estab- 
lish the  seat  of  government  at  some  point  within  twenty  miles 
of  his  residence,  and  the  commissioners,  among  whom  were  Joel 


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422  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Lane  and  his  brother  Joseph  and  Theophilus  Hunter,  finally 
selected  Wake  Court  House,  or  Bloomsbury,  as  it  was  sometimes 
called,  buying  looo  acres  of  land  from  Colonel  Joel  Lane  for  that 
purpose,  on  which  the  city  of  Raleigh  was  afterward  built.  Isaac 
Hunter,  being  a  man  of  considerable  wealth,  and  with  large  landed 
interests,  exerted  a  wide  influence  in  his  day,  and  doubtless  con- 
tributed to  the  selection  of  the  site  for  the  capital.  His  daughter 
Louisa  married  Mr.  James  Howze,  who  represented  Franklin 
County  in  either  the  House  or  the  Senate  almost  continuously 
from  1818  to  1827,  being  greatly  esteemed  as  a  man  of  high 
character  and  fine  intelligence,  and  influential  in  public  affairs. 
Among  his  associates  as  a  representative  from  Franklin  were 
Benjamin  F.  Hawkins,  Charles  A.  Hill  and  Guilford  Lewis,  and 
he  was  considered  the  equal  of  these  distinguished  citizens  in  all 
respects.  His  daughter  Charlotte  married  Major  J.  J.  Thomas 
of  Alabama,  who  removed  to  North  Carolina  in  1825  and  settled 
in  Franklin  County,  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  bom. 

In  childhood  Captain  Thomas  was  robust,  and  entered  with 
spirit  into  the  sports  of  his  young  companions,  and  his  parents 
being  well-to-do,  he  was  admirably  trained,  both  at  home  and  in 
the  excellent  schools  of  Oxford  and  Louisburg.  He  was  an  apt 
pupil,  fond  of  his  books,  and  pursued  his  studies  with  such  zeal  and 
intelligence  that  at  the  age  of  nineteen  it  was  thought  that  he 
was  competent  to  enter  mercantile  life.  That  was  the  vocation 
to  which  he  was  led  by  his  own  inclinations,  and  in  1850  he  entered 
the  store  of  Messrs.  R.  &  R.  H.  Kingsbury,  in  Oxford,  as  a  clerk, 
and  under  their  direction  he  became  very  proficient  both  as  a 
salesman  and  as  a  bookkeeper.  Two  years  later  he  was  employed 
by  Captain  Overby,  and  was  entrusted  with  the  charge  of  his  large 
tobacco  and  banking  business  at  Clarksville,  Virginia,  and  was 
also  required  to  keep  the  books  at  his  store  at  White  House.  After 
four  years  of  faithful  service  with  Captain  Overby,  desiring  to 
remove  to  Richmond  and  profit  by  a  wider  experience  in  a  larger 
field,  he  secured  a  position  with  Willingham  &  EUett,  wholesale 
dealers  in  dry  goods  and  notions.  After  two  years  spent  at  Rich- 
mond becoming  conversant  with   ramifications  of  business,   he 


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JAMES.  J.  THOMAS  423 

obtained  a  position  with  W.  H.  &  R.  S.  Tucker,  the  leading  dry 
goods  merchants  not  only  of  Raleigh,  but  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina.  At  first  employed  as  bookkeeper,  he  soon  became  their 
confidential  clerk,  and  as  long  as  he  remained  with  them  he  en- 
joyed their  confidence  and  personal  regard ;  but  after  several  years 
had  elapsed  he  found  himself  in  a  position  to  embark  in  business 
on  his  own  account,  and  opened  a  store  at  Franklinton,  which  he 
successfully  conducted  until  hostilities  broke  out  between  the  sec- 
tions. Shortly  after  the  war  began  he  closed  his  business  and 
enlisted  in  Company  F  of  the  Forty-seventh  Regiment,  raised  in 
Franklin  County,  of  which  he  was  appointed  first  lieutenant. 
Upon  the  organization  of  the  regiment  with  Sion  H.  Rogers  as 
colonel,  he  was  appointed  regimental  quartermaster,  and  continued 
in  that  position  until  that  office  was  abolished  by  the  War  Depart- 
ment. He  accompanied  his  regiment  when  it  joined  the  army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  and  was  in  the  engagement  at  Drury's  Bluff. 
In  December  of  that  year  the  regiment  was  rushed  to  Kinston, 
North  Carolina,  to  resist  the  threatened  attack  of  General  Foster, 
and  it  served  that  winter  in  Eastern  Carolina  and  Virginia;  but 
early  in  1863  it  was  brigaded  with  four  of  the  North  Carolina 
regiments  under  General  J.  Johnston  Pettigrew,  and  in  May  it 
became  a  part  of  Heth's  Division  of  A.  P.  Hill's  Corps.  It  was 
about  that  time  that  Captain  Thomas,  on  the  recommendation  of 
General  Lee,  was  appointed  by  the  secretary  of  war  assistant 
division  quartermaster  under  Major  Vick,  of  Heth's  Division,  and 
in  that  capacity  he  accompanied  Heth's  Division  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  war,  often  acting  himself  as  the  division  quarter- 
master because  of  the  continued  absence  of  his  chief.  He  accom- 
panied the  army  in  its  march  into  Pennsylvania,  and  on  the  30th  of 
June,  1863,  according  to  orders,  having  collected  all  the  available 
transportation  with  a  view  of  obtaining  supplies  for  the  army, 
he  proceeded  to  enter  Gettysburg,  having  a  small  detail  of  infantry 
and  cavalry  as  a  guard  against  any  sudden  attack  of  Federal 
troops.  But  before  reaching  the  city  he  was  advised  that  the 
enemy  were  near  at  hand,  and  he  parked  his  train  in  the  vicinity 
for  the  night.    The  engagement  the  next  day  took  place  in  his 


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424  NORTH  CAROLINA 

immediate  front,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  over,  the  enemy  having 
been  driven  off,  Captain  Thomas  was  ordered  to  use  all  the  trans- 
portation he  had  to  collect  and  carry  off  from  the  battlefield  every 
gim  and  all  other  material  that  would  in  any  way  be  of  service 
to  the  army.  He  gleaned  the  field,  and  secured  a  large  number  of 
guns  and  quantities  of  valuable  supplies.  The  next  day,  under 
similar  circumstances,  the  same  valuable  service  was  rendered, 
notwithstanding  the  proximity  of  the  enemy  and  being  subjected 
to  their  fire.  On  the  third  day  Captain  Thomas  was  close  up  with 
his  division  on  the  left  of  Longstreet's  Corps,  and  during  the 
retreat  of  General  Lee  from  Gettysburg  he  was,  with  many  other 
Confederate  soldiers,  captured  at  Greencastle,  Pennsylvania,  by  a 
body  of  Federal  cavalry,  who  broke  the  line  of  the  Confederate 
march  to  that  place.  Before  the  day  was  past  General  Imboden 
with  his  cavalry  and  light  artillery  routed  the  Federal  cavalry 
and  dispersed  them  and  rescued  the  prisoners  and  the  wagon 
trains  they  had  taken. 

He  continued  to  perform  his  duties  with  Heth's  Division  with 
efficiency  and  promptness,  but  some  months  later,  before  the  war 
closed,  he  was  detailed  by  the  War  Department  on  special  duty  in 
Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  and  in  the  adjoining  counties  of 
North  Carolina,  and  before  this  service  was  completed  General  Lee 
had  been  compelled  to  evacuate  Petersburg  and  had  surrendered  at 
Appomattox.  In  the  performance  of  every  duty  Captain  Thomas 
had  been  prompt,  intelligent  and  efficient.  He  had  acted  with  zeal, 
discretion  and  energy  during  the  four  years  of  war  under  trying 
and  difficult  circumstances,  and  upon  the  cessation  of  hostilities 
he  returned  home,  and  animated  by  the  same  indomitable  spirit 
that  had  actuated  him  in  his  army  life,  he  began  once  more  his 
vocation  in  the  mercantile  business.  Not  content  with  the  limited 
opportunities  which  the  circumstances  of  his  home  people  pre- 
sented, he,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  William  J.  Hawkins,  B.  P. 
Williamson  and  Colin  M.  Hawkins,  began  a  commission  business 
in  Baltimore,  which  they  successfully  operated  until  1872,  when 
he  returned  to  Raleigh  along  with  Captain  Williamson.  And 
later,  Mr.  W.  G.  Upchurch  being  associated  with  them,  they 


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JAMES  J.  THOMAS  425 

formed  the  firm  of  Williamson.  Upchurch  &  Thomas,  to  con- 
duct a  wholesale  grocery  and  commission  business,  and  entered 
upon  a  career  of  great  prosperity. 

Four  years  afterward,  however,  Captain  Thomas  withdrew  from 
the  firm  and  established  a  new  business  house,  doing  a  large  cotton 
business,  which  he  has  since  maintained  in  connection  with  the 
People's  Storage  and  Mercantile  Company,  of  which  he  is  presi- 
dent; and  he  was  the  first  president  of  the  Raleigh  Cotton  and 
Grocery  Exchange,  and  he  contributed  largely  by  his  energy  and 
skill  in  attracting  to  Raleigh  a  cotton  business  from  an  extended 
area,  which  at  one  time  approximated  75,000  bales  a  year.  He 
was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  Oak  City  Mill,  established  in 
1875,  *"^  w^s  its  president;  he  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the 
Raleigh  Savings  Bank,  and  was  its  first  president,  and  he  laid  the 
basis  for  its  business  on  foundations  so  sure  and  deep,  that  under 
the  continued  wise  administration  of  his  successor  it  has  become 
one  of  the  most  useful  and  beneficial  financial  institutions  of  the 
State.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  at  one  time  was  the 
president  of  the  Raleigh  Cotton  Mills,  and  was  president  of  the 
Caraleigh  Phosphate  and  Fertilizer  Works,  whose  career  of  pros- 
perity has  been  phenomenal.  He  also  aided  in  organizing  the 
Caraleigh  Cotton  Mills,  and  was  president  for  many  years  of  that 
company.  Indeed,  no  other  citizen  of  Raleigh  has  been  more 
progressive  and  more  useful  to  the  community  in  organizing  and 
aiding  financially  the  various  enterprises  that  have  contributed 
to  promote  her  industries  and  develop  her  trade  than  Captain 
Thomas.  As  president  of  the  Commercial  and  Farmers'  Bank, 
whose  success  has  been  very  great,  he  has  exhibited  a  fine  capacity 
as  a  financier  and  bank  officer,  and  as  one  of  those  in  influential 
control  over  the  operations  of  the  various  mills  in  which  he  is 
interested  he  has  manifested  skill  and  enterprise  and  a  conserva- 
tive judgment  which  reflects  the  highest  credit  on  him. 

Captain  Thomas  has  always  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Democratic  Party,  which  he  deems  is  the  only  party 
that  should  be  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  public  affairs 
at  the  South.    But  while  he  has  ever  been  liberal  in  making  dona- 


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426  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tions  for  campaign  purposes,  being  entirely  engaged  in  his  finan- 
cial affairs,  he  has  never  sought  political  station,  being  content  to 
work  as  a  private  in  the  ranks,  and  being  engrossed  with  the 
management  of  his  large  business  interests.  His  religious  afiilia- 
tions  are  with  the  Baptist  denomination,  and  he  has  ever  been 
esteemed  as  one  of  the  leading  Baptists  in  the  city  of  Raleigh. 

In  i860  Captain  Thomas  married  Victoria,  a  daughter  of 
Xenophon  Halbert  of  South  Carolina.  She  dying  in  1872,  three 
years  later,  he  married  Miss  Evelyn  Briggs,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Thomas  H.  Briggs,  Sr.,  one  of  the  most  highly  esteemed  citizens 
of  Raleigh,  and  after  her  death  he  was  married  the  third  time, 
in  September,  1880,  to  Miss  Lula  O.  Felt  of  Warrenton,  and  he 
has  four  children  now  living. 

Strictly  a  business  man,  whose  success  in  the  various  lines  of 
business  activity^  well  fit  him  to  g^ve  a  word  of  advice  to  the 
younger  generation.  Captain  Thomas  says :  "I  have,  since  arriving 
at  years  of  early  manhood,  made  it  an  invariable  rule  to  always 
be  prompt  at  my  business,  keeping  every  engagement  and  faith- 
fully executing  every  command  of  my  employers.  My  associates 
were  always  chosen  among  those  whose  moral  character  was  above 
reproach."  And  this  he  thinks  is  a  safeguard  to  young  men  from 
falling  into  evil  ways  and  being  led  into  a  course  of  improper 
action.  He  also  recommends  "politeness,  especially  to  one's 
seniors,  to  live  within  one's  means,  be  that  what  it  may,  and,  if 
necessary  even  by  making  sacrifices,  to  lay  up  something  for  a 
rainy  day." 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


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■'  MAIN   ii;..\:>i.i:«-  \   '." 

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RSON   WILEY 

SON  WILEY,  son  of  David 
Jie  Woodburn,  was  bom  in 
North  Carolina,  February  3, 

of  the  Wiley  family  in  North 
tarn  Wiley,  who  moved  into 
nsylvania  in  1754.  He  pur- 
n  the  Alamance  section  of 

grandfather  of  Calvin   H. 

ttle  of  Alamance,  and  later 

larked  out  for  him  a  career 
ection,  she  bestowed  upon 
inisters — that  of  |he  great 

Rev.  Dr.  Henderson.  In 
^  was  sent  toCaldwell  Insti- 
le  auspices  of  the  Orange 

^  most  celebrated  prepara- 

/as  prepared  for  college. 

'olina,  he  was  graduated 

z  planned  for  him  by  his 
/-as  admitted  to  the  law  in 
'-ere  few  in  number,  and 
cases  on  his  hands.  Most 


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CALVIN    HENDERSON    WILEY 

PaLVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY,  son  of  David 
L.  Wiley  and  Anne  Woodburn,  was  bom  in 
Guilford  County,  North  Carolina,  February  3, 
1 8 19.  The  founder  of  the  Wiley  family  in  North 
Carolina  was  William  Wiley,  who  moved  into 
the  State  from  Pennsylvania  in  1754.  He  pur- 
chased lands  from  Lord  Granville  in  the  Alamance  section  of 
Guilford  County.  His  son  David,  grandfather  of  Calvin  H. 
Wiley,  was  present  as  a  boy  at  the  battle  of  Alamance,  and  later 
became  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution. 

Mrs.  Wiley's  ambition  for  her  son  marked  out  for  him  a  career 
in  the  pulpit,  and  as  a  step  in  this  direction,  she  bestowed  upon 
him  the  names  of  two  Presbyterian  ministers — that  of  |hc  great 
John  Calvin  and  that  of  her  old  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Henderson.  In 
furtherance  of  these  wishes,  young  Wiley  was  sent  to  Caldwell  Insti- 
tute in  Greensboro,  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Orange 
Presbytery,  and  at  that  time  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  prepara- 
tory school  in  the  State.  Here  he  was  prepared  for  college. 
Entering  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  he  was  graduated 
in  1840  with  highest  honors. 

Not  feeling  called  to  the  sacred  work  planned  for  him  by  his 
mother,  he  chose  law  as  his  profession,  was  admitted  to  the  law  in 
1841  and  settled  at  Oxford.  Clients  were  few  in  number,  and 
the  young  lawyer  found  more  time  than  cases  on  his  hands.  Most 


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428  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  this  spare  time  was  devoted  to  literary  pursuits,  in  which  he 
delighted  throughout  his  life.  From  1841  to  1843  he  edited  the 
Oxford  Mercury,  In  1847  he  published  his  first  considerable 
work,  a  novel  entitled  "Alamance ;  or,  the  Great  and  Final  Experi- 
ment." Two  years  later  a  second  novel  appeared,  "Roanoke;  or. 
Where  is  Utopia?" 

But  the  author  found  graver  work  awaiting  him  than  the  writ- 
ing of  romances.  A  close  observer  of  the  educational  and  indus- 
trial conditions  in  North  Carolina^  he  wrote  feelingly  and  elo- 
quently of  what  he  saw.  Among  other  things,  he  noticed  with 
great  solicitude  that  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  unaware  of 
the  immense  resources  of  their  own  State,  were  deserting  her 
by  the  thousands,  seeking  in  other  regions  fields  for  imagined 
advantages.  He  wrote  that  the  State  had  "long  been  regarded 
by  its  own  citizens  as  a  mere  nursery  to  grow  up  in ;"  that  it  had 
become  a  great  camping-ground,  the  inhabitants  considering 
themselves  as  merely  tenanted  here  for  a  while;  that  thousands 
sought  homes  elsewhere,  whose  sacrifices  in  moving  would  have 
paid  for  twenty  years  their  share  of  taxation,  sufficient  to  give  to 
North  Carolina  all  the  fancied  advantages  of  those  regions 
whither  they  went  to  be  taxed  with  disease  and  suffering;  that 
the  melancholy  sign,  "For  sale,"  seemed  plowed  in  deep,  black 
characters  over  the  whole  State;  and  that  even  the  State  flag 
which  waved  over  the  capitol,  indicating  the  sessions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  was  jestingly  called  by  our  neighbors  of  Virginia 
and  of  South  Carolina  an  auctioneer's  sig^.  The  "ruinous 
effects,"  he  wrote,  "are  eloquently  recorded  in  deserted  farms,  in 
wide  wastes  of  guttered  sedgefields,  in  neglected  resources,  in  the 
absence  of  imprdvements,  and  in  the  hardships,  sacrifices  and  sor- 
rows of  constant  immigration." 

In  addition  to  this  deplorable  condition.  Dr.  Wiley  observed 
that  North  Carolina  was  regarded  by  Northern  publishers  as 
the  "best  mart  in  the  world  for  the  sale  of  trashy  and  uncurrent 
productions,  and  the  very  refuse  of  literary  quackery  was 
sent  out  and  circulated  amcMig  our  people.  They  were  thus 
drugged    with    foreign    narcotics    and    heavily    taxed    for    the 


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CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY  429 

benefit  of  fabrics  that  could  not  be  sold  where  they  were 
published." 

These  two  evils  caused  him  no  little  anxiety  about  the  future  of 
the  State.  Careful  study  of  the  situation  revealed  to  him  but  one 
remedy — universal  education.  The  children  must  be  taught  to 
know  and  appreciate  the  opportunities  offered  at  home,  and  must 
be  pven  the  training  necessary  for  intelligent  use  of  those  oppor- 
tunities. Year  by  year  the  conviction  grew  steadily  upon  him 
that  he  could  render  no  greater  service  to  North  Carolina  than  by 
revealing  the  State  to  herself  through  a  complete  system  of  public 
schools.  Abandoning  personal  ambition,  he  threw  himself  into 
this  new  work  with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature. 

The  first  step  taken  toward  the  establishment  of  a  public  school 
system  in  North  Carolina  was  Judge  Murphey's  famous  report  of 
1816,  in  which  the  organization  of  such  a  system  was  recom- 
mended to  the  General  Assembly.  It  ended,  however,  with  the 
recommendation,  and  nothing  further  was  done  until  1825.  In 
this  year,  certain  funds  in  the  State  Treasury  and  the  revenues 
derived  from  certain  sources  were  set  aside  as  a  fund  for  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  public  schools.  In  1836  the  surplus 
revenue  of  the  Federal  Government  was  distributed  to  the  sev- 
eral States ;  and  of  her  share  North  Carolina  devoted  $i»  133,757-39 
to  the  Literary  Fund.  Soon  after  this  an  act  was  passed  by  the 
legislature  providing  for  a  system  of  public  education.  The  plan 
was  crude  and  imperfect  and  was  not  put  into  general  operation. 
By  November  i,  1840,  the  Literary  Board's  resources  amounted 
to  $2,241480.05.  With  this  considerable  fund  on  hand,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  have  a  better  organization  of  the  school  system. 
In  1840,  therefore,  an  act  was  passed,  entitled  "An  Act  for  the 
establishment  and  better  regulation  of  the  common  schools." 
The  Literary  Board  was  made  the  executive  of  the  system.  But 
this  was  an  inadequate  arrangement,  the  board  from  the  very 
nature  of  its  composition  not  being  able  to  attend  properly  to  the 
various  duties  incumbent  upon  the  executive  of  such  a  system. 
A  single  executive  head  was  needed.  Recommendations  for  the 
appointment  of  a  general  superintendent  of  common  schools  were 


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430  NORTH  CAROLINA 

continuously  urged  upon  the  legislature,  during  a  period  of  twelve 
years,  but  to  no  purpose.  The  system  thus  floundered  about 
without  a  pilot,  and  in  this  situation  was  on  the  point  of  going  to 
wreck  when  Calvin  H.  Wiley  took  hold  of  the  helm. 

In  order  to  introduce  the  necessary  reforms,  he  desired  a  scat 
in  the  General  Assembly.  As  he  realized  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  his  obtaining  this  in  Granville  County,  he  returned  to  his  native 
Guilford,  and  was  at  once  elected  a  member  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  1850-51.  During  this  session  he  introduced  a  bill  pro- 
viding for  the  appointment  of  a  superintendent  of  the  common 
schools.  He  supported  his  bill  with  a  speech  of  great  power  and 
eloquence,  but  failed  to  secure  its  passage.  Disappointed,  but  not 
disheartened,  he  again  stood  for  election  and  was  returned. 
Through  his  influence  a  similar  bill  was  introduced  by  Mr.  J.  B. 
Cherry  of  Bertie  and  passed  both  Houses.  This  act  provided  for 
the  election  of  a  superintendent  by  the  General  Assembly.  He 
was  to  hold  office  for  a  term  of  two  years,  or  until  his  successor 
should  be  duly  appointed  and  qualified.  His  duties,  as  outlined 
by  the  act,  consisted  of  the  usual  ones,  such  as  collecting  informa- 
tion, making  proper  reports,  seeing  to  the  enforcement  of  the 
school  laws,  etc.  But  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Wiley:  "His  duties 
cannot  be  expressed  by  law,  and  if  he  does  not  possess  the  spirit 
of  his  station,  a  conformity  of  the  mere  letter  of  legal  require- 
ments .  .  .  will  not  be  a  discharge  of  his  duties  to  the  public 
He  is  the  chief  executive  head  of  the  system ;  ...  he  ought  to 
be  the  chief  thinking  mind;  the  organ  of  intercommunication 
among  its  parts;  the  recording  memory  also  of  the  system.  He 
has  also  to  be  the  heart  as  well  as  the  head  of  the  system,  infus- 
ing into  it  life,  animation  and  hope,  encouraging  the  desponding 
and  stimulating  the  energies  of  the  enthusiastic." 

This  law  once  passed,  it  became  necessary  to  find  a  man  of  suf- 
ficient ability  to  undertake  the  arduous  and  responsible  duties  of 
the  office.  All  voices  called  on  one  man.  Though  he  was  a  NNTiig. 
and  the  legislature  was  Democratic,  yet  State  patriotism  prevailed 
over  party  allegiance,  and  without  solicitation  on  his  part,  Wiley 
was  elected   in  December,   1852.     On  January  I,   1853,  in  the 


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CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY  431 

thirty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
office.  Surely  no  man  ever  undertook  an  arduous  task  with  a 
greater  sense  of  the  vast  personal  responsibility  that  lay  upon 
him.  He  realized  that  upon  his  conduct  of  the  duties  of  his  office 
depended  the  life  of  the  common  schools.  He  had  ever>  thing  to 
do  and  everybody  to  instruct.  The  compass  of  experience  by 
which  he  might  steer  his  course,  seeking  the  channels  of  safety 
and  avoiding  the  shoals  and  whirlpools  of  danger,  was  lacking  to 
him.  But  he  did  not  flinch  from  his  duty.  His  steady  hand 
grasped  the  helm,  guided  by  a  penetrating  insight  into  the  murky 
conditions  surrounding  him  and  supported  by  a  heart  strong 
through  faith  in  his  cause,  in  his  people  and  in  divine  guidance. 

The  attempt  to  establish  a  system  of  public  schools  in  North 
Carolina,  owing  to  the  lack  of  proper  organization  and  the  ab- 
sence of  an  efficient  executive  head,  had  proved  worse  than  a 
failure.  Teachers  were  scarce  and  inefficient,  schoolhouses  were 
worthless,  uncomfortable,  unhealthy,  and  inadequate  for  their  pur- 
poses, money  was  squandered,  results  were  meagre,  and  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  in  the  schools  absolutely  destroyed. 

As  a  consequence  of  these  conditions,  Dr.  Wiley  found  himself 
faced  at  the  outset  by  six  difficulties :  First,  the  diversified  char- 
acter of  the  people,  resulting  in  a  lack  of  sympathetic  harmony 
fatal  to  a  systematic  conduct  of  the  schools ;  second,  the  novelty 
of  the  common-school  idea,  from  which  grew  misconceptions  of  the 
purposes  of  the  schools  and  an  impatience  at  their  necessarily  slow 
work;  third,  the  illiteracy  of  the  population,  which  gave  birth  to 
a  mistrust  of  the  ability  of  the  people  to  conduct  successfully  a 
system  of  schools;  fourth,  the  erroneous  idea  that  the  common 
schools  were  mere  charity  schools  for  the  poor,  from  which  grew  a 
distaste  among  many  people  to  accept  their  benefits;  fifth,  the 
lack  of  a  feeling  of  responsibility  for  the  schools  among  the  citi- 
zens of  the  State,  causing  difficulty  in  getting  efficient  men  to 
fill  the  official  positions  in  the  counties;  finally,  the  scarcity  of 
teachers,  which,  of  course,  struck  at  the  very  roots  of  the  sys- 
tem. To  meet  and  overcome  these  obstacles,  there  were,  as 
Dr.  Wiley  wrote,  "a  thousand  little  springs  invisible  to  the  casual 


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432  NORTH  CAROLINA 

observer  to  be  delicately  touched,  a  thousand  nameless  duties  to 
be  performed,  a  thousand  crosses  and  difficulties  unknown  to  the 
world  at  large." 

He  went  about  his  work  with  determination,  energy  and 
patience,  having  at  the  beginning  six  objects  in  view.  They  were! 
To  gain  information  for  his  own  guidance ;  to  let  teachers,  officers 
and  pupils  know  and  feel  that  the  State  as  a  State  was  really 
interested  in  their  welfare ;  to  diffuse  information  on  public  scfiool 
systems  in  general  and  the  North  Carolina  system  in  particular; 
to  enforce  the  laws;  to  initiate  himself  all  needful  reforms;  and 
finally,  to  make  the  schools  supply  themselves  with  teachers. 

The  work  was  slow,  discouraging  and  tedious,  and  the  superin- 
tendent was  often  compelled  to  draw  heavily  on  his  fund  of 
patience.  The  results  were  far  beyond  his  calculations.  Old 
friends  were  discovered,  new  ones  made  and  enlisted  in  the 
work ;  enemies  were  met  and  routed ;  tardy  officers  were  spurred 
on  to  more  diligent  and  efficient  work,  incompetent  ones  found 
out  and  removed ;  many  misconceptions  were  corrected ;  colleges, 
high  schools  and  academies  were  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their 
vital  interest  in  the  common  schools;  unity  was  gradually  intro- 
duced into  the  system;  and  school  men  in  all  parts  of  the  State 
and  in  all  phases  of  educational  work  were  taught  to  see  that  the 
interests  of  all  were  bound  together  in  one  great  and  ever-widen- 
ing circle. 

One  of  the  most  apparent  evils  which  it  was  necessary  for  the 
superintendent  to  reform  was  the  multiplicity  and  frequent 
changes  of  text-books.  Dr.  Wiley  was  often  called  upon  to  in- 
terfere in  this  matter,  and  he  felt  justified  in  using  all  his  authority 
to  suppress  the  evil.  Where  suitable  text-books  could  not  be 
found,  he  set  to  work  with  characteristic  energy  to  prepare  them 
himself,  always  bearing  in  mind  his  original  desire  to  awaken 
North  Carolinians  to  a  sense  of  the  great  resources  of  their 
State.  For  instance,  he  notified  publishers  that  he  would  not 
approve  of  any  geography  unless  he  was  allowed  to  correct  the 
text  so  far  as  it  related  to  North  Carolina.  Several  publishers 
consented  to  this,  and  he  selected  "MitcheH's  Intermediate  Geog- 


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CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY  433 

raphy."  To  this  book  he  added  an  appendix  giving  a  condensed 
but  accurate  account  of  the  State.  He  directed  the  preparation 
of  a  new  map,  showing  all  the  railroads,  plank  roads,  and  intended 
routes  of  travel ;  and  in  other  ways  emphasized  the  resources  and 
opportunities  of  the  State.  He  proudly  asserts  that  such  a  con- 
cession was  never  before  made  in  any  work  to  any  State. 

Nothing  in  Dr.  Wiley's  long  career  of  usefulness  to  the  State 
better  illustrates  his  unselfish  devotion  to  her  interests  than  his 
action  in  regard  to  a  series  of  North  Carolina  readers  prepared 
by  himself  for  use  in  the  schools.  The  purpose  of  the  work  was 
the  same  as  that  of  his  supplement  of  Mitchell's  geography.  He 
had  b^^n  the  readers  before  his  elevation  to  the  superintendency 
of  the  common  schools,  but  upon  assiuning  the  duties  of  his  office 
he  felt  that  he  ought  not  to  have  any  investment  in  school-books. 
He  therefore  made  arrangements  for  Dr.  F.  M.  Hubbard,  Pro- 
fessor of  English  Literature  in  the  State  University,  to  complete 
the  work,  and  sold  the  stereotype  plates  of  his  readers  and  all 
the  copies  on  hand  to  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Company  of  New  York  at 
original  cost.  By  this  arrangement  Dr.  Wiley  received  nothing 
for  his  valuable  copyright,  no  profit  on  his  books  and  no  pay 
for  his  work  and  expense,  besides  losing  three  years'  interest  and 
the  original  investment.  There  was  nothing  ostentatious  about 
this ;  it  was  done  quietly,  and  solely  that  the  books  might  be  more 
useful.    The  readers  were  received  with  every  mark  of  approval. 

By  far  the  most  important  problem  the  superintendent  was 
called  upon  to  solve  was  the  problem  of  supplying  teachers. 
Dr.  Wiley  went  about  this  matter  with  his  usual  energy  and  wis- 
dom. He  aimed  ultimately  at  normal  schools,  but  in  the  begin- 
ning these  were  out  of  the  question.  For  the  present  the  common 
schools  must  supply  themselves.  He  considered  that  their  ability 
to  do  that  would  be  the  best  test  by  which  to  judge  of  their  char- 
acter and  success.  He  devised  a  plan,  simple  but  effective,  by 
which  teachers  not  only  could  be  supplied,  but  also  aroused  to 
study  and  continuous  self-improvement.  In  order  to  test  the 
results  of  his  plan,  he  sent  to  each  chairman  in  the  State  a  cir- 
cular asking  what  had  been  his  observation  of  it.    Fifty-five  an- 


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434  NORTH  CAROLINA 

swers  were  received.  One  said,  "bad;"  one  said,  "no  change;" 
four  were  "in  doubt,  but  hopeful;"  forty-nine  thought  the  plan 
"good."  In  this  way  pupils  leaving  the  common  schools  could 
enter  the  ranks  of  the  teachers  and  gradually  work  to  the  top. 
As  a  result  of  his  plan,  Dr.  Wiley  asserted  with  some  pride  that 
those  who  now  became  teachers,  sought  places  in  the  public  schools 
in  preference  to  conducting  private  schools,  though  formerly  the 
reverse  had  been  true. 

But  it  was  not  enough  simply  to  supply  the  demand  for 
teachers;  it  was  equally  essential  that  a  constant  pressure  be 
brought  to  bear  on  them  for  improvement.  Besides  the  annual 
examinations.  Dr.  Wiley  conceived  and  put  into  execution  three 
other  schemes :  the  establishment  of  a  Teachers'  Library  Associa- 
tion in  each  school  district ;  the  publication  of  the  North  Carolina 
School  Journal;  and  the  organization  of  the  Educational  Asso- 
ciation of  North  Carolina. 

Through  the  Teachers'  Library  Association,  the  teachers  of  the 
common  schools  were  supplied  with  professional  literature,  for 
Dr.  Wiley  constantly  urged  upon  them  the  necessity  of  studying 
their  profession.  He  himself  set  the  example.  His  words  are 
as  true  now  as  they  were  then,  when  he  said :  "Scatter  judiciously 
over  the  State  good  copies  of  any  good  work  on  education  and 
it  will  create  a  revolution." 

The  superintendent  constantly  felt  the  need  of  an  organ  of 
communication  between  the  various  educational  forces  of  the 
State.  To  serve  this  purpose,  he  turned  over  in  his  mind  plans 
for  the  establishment  of  an  educational  journal.  The  first  num- 
ber appeared  in  1856,  under  the  name  North  Carolina  Common 
School  Journal.  It  was  to  be  issued  quarterly  from  Greensboro. 
After  an  existence  of  two  years,  during  which  time  it  was  kept 
alive  only  by  Dr.  Wiley's  unlimited  zeal  and  energy,  it  was 
adopted  as  the  official  organ  of  the  North  Carolina  Teachers* 
Association;  its  name  was  changed  to  the  North  Carolina 
Journal  of  Education,  and  Dr.  Wiley  was  elected  editor- 
in-chief,  assisted  by  fourteen  associate-editors.  The  list  of  sub- 
scribers was  small  and  the  financial  difficulties  great,  yet  the 


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CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY  435 

journal  took  and  kept  a  high  place  among  its  contemporaries. 
Though  the  war  soon  forced  half  of  its  exchanges  to  suspend  pub- 
lication and  though  the  difficulty  in  getting  paper  increased  daily, 
the  journal  held  its  own  until  1864.  In  March  of  that  year,  the 
printing  establishment  of  Campbell  &  Albright,  from  which  the 
journal  was  issued,  was  destroyed,  and  along  with  it  the  journal 
fell.  Its  influence  for  good  in  North  Carolina  was  beyond  calcu- 
lation. 

The  same  year  in  which  the  journal  was  established  witnessed 
another  of  Dr.  Wiley's  triumphs.  Numerous  efforts  had  previ- 
ously been  made  in  the  State  to  organize  a  teachers'  association, 
but  all  had  failed  ignominiously.  On  one  occasion  the  meeting 
had  been  widely  advertised,  and  on  the  appointed  day  one  teacher 
appeared.  However,  Dr.  Wiley  was  a  courageous  man  and  was 
not  to  be  daunted  by  the  failures  of  others.  In  October,  1856,  at 
Salisbury,  he  succeeded,  after  strenuous  efforts  in  organizing  the 
educational  forces  of  the  State  into  a  Teachers'  Association.  Six 
other  meetings  followed,  all  of  them  well  attended,  not  only  by 
men  prominent  in  educational  work,  but  also  by  many  prominent 
in  the  other  professions  and  in  business  life.  The  association  was 
on  the  high  road  to  greater  usefulness  when  it  fell  to  pieces  amid 
the  thunders  of  war.  Dr.  Wiley  considered  the  Journal  of  Edu- 
cation  and  the  Teachers'  Association  his  two  chief  aids  in  pro- 
moting the  common  school  system. 

He  labored  long  and  faithfully ;  he  met  and  overcame  almost  in- 
superable difficulties ;  and  he  placed  his  State  foremost  among  the 
States  of  the  South  in  the  education  of  her  children.  During  the 
decade  from  1850  to  i860,  covering  the  period  of  Dr.  Wiley's 
work,  although  the  population  of  the  State  increased  less  than 
14  per  cent.,  the  number  of  children  in  the  common  schools 
increased  more  than  36  per  cent.  In  1850  the  percentage  of 
illiteracy  in  the  State  among  the  voting  population  was  29.2 ;  by 
i860  this  had  been  reduced  to  23.1.  In  1850  Dr.  Wiley  had  been 
alarmed  at  the  neglect  of  our  wealth-producing  resources.  At 
the  close  of  the  decade  he  had  ample  grounds  for  declaring  that 
a  great   revolution  was  silently  going  on  in   North   Carolina. 


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436  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Dr.  Wiley's  fears  for  the  future  of  the  State  had  been  aroused 
by  the  constant  stream  of  emigration  from  her  borders.  By  i860 
the  outward  current  had  been  greatly  checked  and  an  inflowing 
current  started.  The  spirit  of  education  was  revealing  itself  in 
the  industrial  progress  of  the  State;  in  the  generally  awakened 
confidence  in  her  resources;  and  in  a  growing  attachment  for 
home.  The  blight  which  had  fallen  on  North  Carolina  was  about 
to  vanish  under  the  touch  of  his  strong  hand. 

Whatever  of  success  has  been  attained  was  admitted  by  all  to 
be  due  to  the  genius  of  Calvin  H.  Wiley.  So  universal  was  the 
confidence  felt  in  his  ability  and  integrity,  that  he  numbered  his 
supporters  in  all  ranks  and  conditions  of  life,  in  all  religious  de* 
nominations  and  in  all  political  parties,  and  received  hearty  sup- 
port from  all.  A  Whig  when  elected  by  a  Democratic  legis- 
lature, he  retained  his  party  affiliations  and  voted  according  to 
his  political  convictions,  and  yet  was  continuously  re-elected  by 
a  legislature  generally  Democratic  at  a  time  when  party  feeling 
ran  high.  On  one  occasion  the  Democrats  in  the  legislature  moved 
his  election  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  in  order  to  forestall 
the  rise  of  party  passion  and  the  possibility  of  a  Democratic 
opponent. 

This  confidence  reflected  no  little  credit  on  the  Democratic  Party, 
and  the  results  showed  that  it  was  not  misplaced.  Dr.  Wiley  was 
met  at  the  beginning  of  his  work  by  six  obstacles.  He  had  found 
the  people  separated  by  their  diversified  characters  and  aspira- 
tions; he  gave  them  a  common  interest  and  united  them  in  a 
common  effort  to  promote  a  common  cause;  he  found  them  ig- 
norant of  the  common  school  idea,  he  taught  them  by  unanswer- 
able example  and  filled  their  minds  and  hearts  with  knowledge 
of  and  pride  in  their  educational  system ;  he  found  them  diffident 
of  their  ability  to  manage ;  he  put  them  to  the  test  and  compelled 
their  confidence  in  themselves  and  in  their  schools ;  he  found  their 
minds  filled  with  errors,  he  turned  on  them  the  light  of  knowl- 
edge and  they  vanished  like  mist  before  the  sun ;  he  found  them 
indifferent,  he  roused  their  enthusiastic  support ;  he  found  a  vine- 
yard without  laborers,  he  created  an  army  of  devoted  workers. 


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CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY  437 

But  with  the  outbreak  of  war  came  the  supreme  test.  North 
Carolina  seceded  from  the  Union  May  20,  1861.  It  became  ap- 
parent from  the  first  that  an  attack  would  be  made  upon  the  school 
fund  for  the  purpose  of  converting  it  into  revenue  for  the  support 
of  the  war.  Dr.  Wiley  was  filled  with  great  anxiety  and  began 
at  once  to  prepare  for  the  attack.  He  first  sought  the  support  of 
the  county  officials  by  issuing  to  them  a  very  able  circular,  giving 
the  arguments  in  favor  of  preserving  the  school  fund  intact  for 
school  purposes.  His  next  step  was  to  win  the  governor  and  his 
council.  Previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  first  war  legislature,  he 
appeared  before  them  to  present  his  case.  His  statement  was 
able  and  his  appeal  eloquent.  "No  people,"  he  exclaimed,  "could 
or  would  be  free  who  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  educate  their 
children;"  and  the  fact  that  the  State  was  waging  a  war  for 
inde|>endence  was  an  additional  reason  why  the  schools  should 
be  kept  0|>en.  He  cried  out  with  indignation  against  those  who 
were  so  short-sighted  as  to  "think  that  a  war  for  political,  social, 
commercial  and  intellectual  independence  could  be  waged  with 
better  results  by  arresting  or  destroying  all  those  springs  of  life 
on  which  national  wealth  and  greatness  are  founded."  The  gov- 
ernor and  the  members  of  his  council  were  completely  won  over, 
and  entered  into  a  solemn,  though  informal,  covenant  to  support 
the  superintendent  in  resisting  any  attack  on  the  school  fund. 
This  agreement,  be  it  said  to  Governor  Ellis's  credit,  was  faith- 
fully kept,  and  the  precedent  thus  set  was  followed  by  his 
successors. 

Dr.  Wiley  was  ably  assisted  in  this  work  by  the  North  Caro- 
lina Teachers'  Association.  In  November,  1861,  the  association 
presented  a  memorial  to  the  constitutional  convention,  then  in 
session,  praying  that  "by  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  the 
proceeds  of  the  common  school  fund  be  sacredly  and  permanently 
secured  to  their  original  purposes." 

It  was  well  that  the  superintendent  and  the  friends  of  educa- 
tion prepared  their  forces  for  the  attack.  It  came  soon  after  the 
assembling  of  the  legislature.  Both  sides  received  able  support. 
In  the  Senate,  Governor  John  M.  Morehead  led  the  defense.  Out- 


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438  NORTH  CAROLINA 

side  the  work  of  Dr.  Wiley  was  arduous,  skilful  and  effective. 
Nothing  shows  better  than  this  fight  the  strength  of  the  system 
built  up  by  Dr.  Wiley.  Its  powerful  aid  was  invoked  and  the 
bill  providing  for  the  use  of  the  school  fund  for  war  purposes 
was  defeated.  When  the  legislature  adjourned,  the  battle  was 
won,  for  succeeding  legislatures  followed  the  example  thus  set 
and  the  school  fund  was  unmolested. 

And  so  the  schools  were  kept  open,  but,  of  course,  they  felt 
the  strain  of  war.  From  this  time  onward  their  existence  was  a 
struggle  heroically  maintained  by  the  superintendent.  The  re- 
markable feature  is  not  that  the  system  became  impaired,  but 
that  it  did  not  fail  altogether.  That  it  did  not  do  so  was  due  to 
the  energy  and  zeal  of  Calvin  H.  Wiley ;  he  refused  to  yield  to  dis- 
couragements, but  labored  incessantly  for  the  betterment  of  the 
system.  While  the  country  lay  bleeding  in  the  iron  grip  of  war 
we  find  him  planning  a  system  of  graded  schools  and  actually  get- 
ting a  bill  for  their  establishment  through  the  House  of  Commons. 
It  was  also  reported  favorably  by  the  Senate  Committee,  but  had 
to  be  tabled,  because  of  the  pressure  of  more  urgent  business. 
The  task  before  Dr.  Wiley  was  more  than  human  ability  could 
cope  with  successfully.  Difficulties  increased  daily.  The  atten- 
tion of  the  people  was  attracted  from  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life 
by  the  novelty  and  the  sufTering  of  war.  Many  thought  it  best 
to  suspend  the  schools  altogether.  It  was  hard  to  get  text-books. 
It  was  hard  to  get  capable  officials.  It  was  hard  to  get  teachers. 
In  spite  of  all  the  difficulties,  the  report  of  1863  shows  50,000  chil- 
dren in  the  common  schools.  Dr.  Wiley  truly  says  that  "the 
future  historian  of  this  stirring  age  will  not  fail  to  find  evidences 
of  the  moral  energy  that  this  fact  implies." 

But  the  end  was  drawing  near.  The  distressing  condition  of 
the  people  and  the  depreciation  of  the  currency  made  it  almost 
impossible  to  continue  the  schools.  Dr.  Wiley  never  for  an  instant 
relaxed  his  energy,  but  the  task  was  beyond  the  power  of  man, 
and  with  the  close  of  the  war  the  schools  went  down  for  lack 
of  funds.  The  superintendent  was  in  his  office  in  the  capitol  when 
the  surrender  of  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  announced  to 


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CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY  439 

him,  April  26,  1865.  Even  then  he  did  not  cease  from  his  labors. 
He  retained  his  office  until  October  19th,  when  by  an  ordinance 
of  the  constitutional  convention  all  offices  held  on  April  26,  1865, 
were  declared  vacant.  And  in  1866  the  office  of  superintendent 
was  abolished  for  the  want  of  funds  to  meet  the  expenses. 

With  his  going  out  of  office  Dr.  Wiley  closed  his  official  con- 
nection with  the  common  school  system,  though  he  never  lost 
active  interest  in  educational  matters.  He  had  given  the  best 
years  of  his  life  to  the  cause,  and  surely  no  man  ever  laid  down 
his  work  with  a  better  right  to  the  gratitude  of  contemporaries 
and  of  posterity. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  sketch  mention  was  made  of  his 
mother's  wish  that  he  become  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  At  that 
time  he  did  not  feel  called  to  the  ministry,  but  later  the  matter 
presented  itself  in  a  different  light.  He  studied  theology  privately, 
and  in  1855  was  licensed  to  preach,  though  he  was  not  fully  or- 
dained until  1866.  He  never  had  a  regular  charge.  In  1881  he 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater. 
In  later  life  he  was  engaged  in  many  useful  works,  nearly  all  of 
which  were  inspired  by  patriotic  or  religious  motives.  In  June  of 
1869  Dr.  Wiley  was  appointed  the  general  agent  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  for  Eastern  and  Middle  Tennessee,  and  moved  to 
Jonesboro  in  that  State.  In  1874  he  was  transferred  to  a  similar 
position  in  North  Carolina  and  removed  to  Winston.  Two  years 
later,  South  Carolina  was  added  to  his  field.  The  same  energy 
and  ability  which  characterized  his  work  as  superintendent  of 
common  schools  was  shown  by  him  in  his  new  work. 

In  1862,  February  25th,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mittie  Towles 
of  Raleigh.    She  and  five  of  her  children  still  survive  him. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  a  new  system  of  public  schools  was 
built  up  in  North  Carolina  upon  the  old  foundation  laid  by 
Dr.  Wiley.  In  1876  he  was  asked  to  become  the  candidate  for 
the  superintendency  of  public  instruction,  but  declined  on  the 
ground  that  his  sacred  calling  prevented. 

After  his  removal  to  Winston,  Dr.  Wiley  interested  himself  in 
the  establishment  of  the  public  school  system  of  that  city.    His 


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440  NORTH  CAROLINA 

voice  and  pen  were  given  to  the  cause,  and  when  established  he 
was  called  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  first  Board  of  Commission- 
ers.   This  place  he  held  till  his  death,  January  ii,  1887. 

The  fame  of  his  services  is  limited  neither  by  State  boundaries 
nor  by  the  lapse  of  years.  His  reputation  was  national,  and  his 
school  system  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  best  in  the  Union* 
At  the  National  Convention  of  Educators  held  in  Cincinnati  in 
August,  1858,  Dr.  Wiley  was  on  the  program  as  "one  of  the  dis- 
tinguished educators  who  would  address  the  convention"  along^ 
with  Horace  Mann.  He  received  an  invitation  to  visit  the  legis- 
lature of  Georgia  to  aid  in  preparing  a  system  of  schools  similar 
to  those  he  had  established  in  North  Carolina.  He  could  not  go, 
and  he  was  then  urged  to  prepare  an  essay  on  the  subject,  to  be 
read  to  the  legislature.  The  Boston  (Massachusetts)  Post  of 
May  I,  1856,  says  that  Dr.  Wiley's  report  for  1855  is  "written 
with  ability  and  shows  that  Mr.  Wiley  has  largeness  of  views 
and  a  zeal  and  energy  in  the  duties  of  his  office  which  eminently 
fit  him  to  fill  the  responsible  position  which  he  now  occupies/' 
Since  his  death,  one  of  the  school  buildings  in  the  city  of  Raleigh 
has  been  given  his  name.  In  the  city  of  Winston  the  school  chil- 
dren have  erected  a  handsome  monument  to  his  memory. 

No  man  better  deserves  such  recognition  from  his  people.  I  do 
not  know  how  a  man's  character  and  ability  are  to  be  measured 
if  it  be  not  by  the  work  he  does  in  the  world.  I  do  not  know  how 
his  work  is  to  be  measured  if  it  be  not  by  the  results  it  has  upon 
civilization.  If  these  results  be  for  the  permanent  upbuilding 
of  the  State,  the  work  deserves  to  be  called  a  great  work,  and  the 
man  who  does  it  a*  great  man.  Measured  by  these  standards, 
Calvin  H,  Wiley  must  be  ranked  among  the  greatest  statesmen  of 
his  day. 

R.  D.  W.  Connor. 


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PATRICK    HENRY  WINSTON,   Sr. 


PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Sr.,  son  of 
George  Winston  and  Anne  Fuller,  was  bom  in 
Franklin  County,  May  9,  1820,  and  died  in 
Windsor,  Bertie  County,  June  14,  1886. 

The  Winstons  are  an  old  English  family, 
tracing  their  line  as  far  back  as  960  A.D.,  to 
^'  \V  yn  Stan  of  Wales.  The  female  branches  of  the 
family  have  been  as  distinguished  as  the  male,  including  in  Eng- 
land the  Churchills  (Duke  of  Marlborough)  and  in  America  the 
Henrys,  Wirts,  Seatons  and  Maurys.  "Early  in  the  seventeenth 
century  three  brothers,  Winston,  Isaac,  John  and  William,  all 
men  of  large  stature  and  uncommonly  handsome,  so  tradition  and 
family  portraits  assert,  left  Winston  Hall,  Yorkshire,  England, 
and  migrated  to  the  New  World,  settling  in  Hanover  County, 
Virginia,  in  search  of  fame  and  fortune."  By  Isaac,  the  emigrant, 
was  begotten  Sarah,  the  mother  of  the  Revolutionary  orator, 
Patrick  Henry.  "She  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,"  says  Wirt, 
"the  mild  and  benevolent  disposition,  the  undeviating  probity,  the 
correct  understanding  and  easy  elocution  by  which  that  ancient 
family  has  been  so  long  distinguished."  Her  brother,  William 
Winston,  was  said  by  contemporaries  to  have  surpassed  even 
Patrick  Henry  in  the  fervor  and  magic  of  his  eloquence. 

Isaac  Winston,  son  of  John,  the  emigrant,  moved  from  Virginia 
to  North  Carolina,  begetting  John,  who  begot  George,  the  father 


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442  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  Patrick  Henry  Winston.  Four  generations  of  sturdy  land- 
owners, slaveholders  and  soil  tillers,  men  of  large  frame,  of  quaint 
humor,  of  rugged  honesty,  of  strong  physical  and  mental  powers 
and  of  commanding  influence  in  local  affairs,  culminated  in  the 
person  of  Patrick  Henry  Winston.  His  father,  George,  was 
famous  for  wit  and  humor,  for  hatred  of  shams  and  pretensions, 
for  curious  vocabulary  of  homespun  words  and  illustrations,  with 
which  he  bombarded  the  entire  community.  His  mother,  Anne 
Fuller,  "the  belle  of  the  county,"  was  daughter  of  Bartholomew 
Fuller  apd  Sarah  Cooke,  whose  mother,  Amy  Belle  Conyers,  bom 
on  the  island  of  Bermuda,  sent  seven  brothers,  all  gallant  soldiers, 
to  the  Revolutionary  War.  It  was  long  a  tradition  in  Franklin 
County  that  no  handsomer  couple  ever  stood  before  the  altar  than 
George  Winston  and  Anne  Fuller.  He  was  massive,  rugged,  racy 
of  the  soil,  masculine  and  handsome ;  she  a  model  of  gentleness, 
grace,  culture  and  womanly  beauty. 

Patrick  Henry  Winston,  the  second  son  and  third  child  of  this 
union,  combined  to  a  remarkable  degree  and  in  wonderfully  good 
balance  the  strong  and  striking  qualities  of  both  parents.  From 
his  mother  came  that  gentle,  tender  and  refined  nature  which  would 
not  suffer  him  needlessly  to  set  foot  upon  a  worm;  from  his 
father  strength,  majesty,  authority ;  from  both  sides  honesty  and 
efficiency.  He  was  raised  on  his  father's  farm,  spending  his  boy- 
hood and  youth  in  manual  labor  with  scant  opportunities  of  edu- 
cation, except  what  he  received  from  his  mother,  whose  early 
death  left  him  without  a  teacher  and  sent  him  to  the  field,  a  plough- 
boy  among  his  father's  slaves.  But  something  stirred  within  him 
that  called  for  higher  work,  so  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  left  home 
and  entered  Wake  Forest  College,  where  in  one  year  he  accom- 
plished the  work  of  three,  passing  up  rapidly  from  one  class  into 
another.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  took  charge  of  the  Oak  Grove 
Academy  near  Windsor,  in  Bertie  County,  teaching  there  three 
years,  and  continuing  his  own  education  by  private  study.  He 
was  now  resolved  to  secure  the  best  education  obtainable  and  to 
enter  the  profession  of  law.  For  this  purpose,  and  attracted  by 
the  presence  of  Webster  and  Clay,  whom  he  greatly  admired,  he 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Sr.  443 

went  to  Washington  City  and  entered  the  Columbian  University, 
where  after  three  years  of  study  he  was  graduated  with  the  high- 
est honors  as  valedictorian  of  his  class.  Returning  to  North  Caro- 
line, he  entered  the  University  Law  School  at  Chapel  Hill,  com- 
pleting the  course  there,  and  afterward  studying  under  Judge 
Robert  B.  Gilliam  at  Oxford. 

While  at  the  University  he  was  surpassed  by  no  man  in  dili- 
gence. The  late  Samuel  F.  Phillips,  at  that  time  a  student  in  the 
University,  told  the  writer  that  the  night  of  the  grand  commence- 
ment ball,  going  to  his  room  between  midnight  and  day,  he  passed 
the  open  door  of  Winston's  room  and  found  him  intently  reading 
'*Coke  on  Littleton."  He  had  not  left  his  room  during  the  festivi- 
ties of  the  evening,  but  had  studied  all  night  long  as  eagerly  as  the 
other  boys  had  danced  and  frolicked.  He  was  as  fond  of 
pleasures  as  any  man,  but  he  was  their  master  and  not  their 
servant. 

Obtaining  license  to  practice  law,  he  settled  in  Windsor,  Bertie 
County,  in  response  to  urgent  solicitation  of  friends  and  former 
patrons ;  and  for  one  year  taught  school  and  practiced  law.  His 
practice  grew  very  rapidly.  He  took  rank  almost  at  once  at  the 
head  of  his  profession,  maintaining  it  for  forty  years  in  a  bar 
that  has  rarely  been  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  the  State,  including 
such  lawyers  as  Cherry,  Outlaw,  Biggs,  Smith,  Gilliam,  Carter 
and  Barnes.  For  nearly  half  a  century  he  was  retained  in  every 
important  case  in  the  courts  of  Northeast  North  Carolina.  As  a 
land  lawyer  he  had  no  superior.  He  knew  all  the  foundations 
of  law.  As  an  advocate  he  was  singularly  clear,  forcible  and 
strong.  The  jury  was  bound  to  understand  him,  as  he  turned 
to  view  every  side  of  a  difficult  question,  exposing  fallacies,  strip- 
ping off  veneering,  getting  at  the  heart  of  it,  illustrating  every 
phase  of  it  with  homely  illustrations  drawn  from  every-day  life, 
enriching  and  flavoring  the  driest  legal  points  with  quaint,  irre- 
sistible humor  or  broad,  side-splitting  fun.  People  came  from 
far  and  wide  to  hear  him  speak,  and  his  original  sayings  passed 
through  several  counties  as  current  coin  of  thought.  Negroes 
and  illiterate  laborers  no  less  than  scholars  treasured  his  sayings, 


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444  NORTH  CAROLINA 

loved  his  humor  and  even  imitated  his  droll  and  charming 
mannerisms. 

In  1850,  and  again  in  1854,  the  people  of  Bertie  County  sent 
him  as  their  representative  to  the  House  of  Commons.  .His  popu- 
larity was  unbounded,  and  political  honors  were  awaiting  him, 
not  for  the  asking,  but  for  acceptance.  His  career  in  the  legis- 
lature made  him  a  State  reputation  and  hosts  of  friends.  No  man 
was  fonder  of  social  life  and  the  joys  of  public  life ;  but  he  delib- 
erately put  aside  a  public  career  for  the  sake  of  wife  and  children, 
whom  he  loved  with  a  great  heart  full  of  tenderness  and  inspired 
by  a  noble  sense  of  duty.  He  resolved  to  live  at  home,  and  to 
supervise  the  education  of  his  children.  Nothing  but  great  public 
emergencies  ever  afterward  made  him  swerve,  even  temporarily, 
from  this  purpose. 

In  1861  the  legislature  elected  him  a  member  of  the  State  Board 
of  Claims,  one  of  the  most  important  executive- judicial  bodies  in 
the  State.  Its  duties  were  to  pass  upon  financial  claims  against  the 
State  arising  out  of  the  Civil  War.  The  other  members  of  the 
Board  were  Bartholomew  F.  Moore  and  Samuel  F,  Phillips. 
Winston  characterized  the  board  as  follows:  **To  Mr.  Moore  a 
dollar  looks  as  big  as  a  cart  wheel;  to  Phillips  as  small  as  a 
sixpence;  to  Winston  just  the  right  size.  He  settles  the  claims." 
Mr.  Winston  displayed  such  marked  ability  and  excellent  judg- 
ment as  a  member  of  this  board  that  he  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Vance,  on  the  expiration  of  the  existence  of  the  Board  of 
Claims,  to  be  financial  agent  between  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
and  the  Confederate  Government.  In  this  office  he  settled 
millions  of  dollars  of  claims  arising  from  the  furnishing  of  arms, 
clothing  and  supplies  to  the  Confederate  army  by  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  and  protected  the  financial  interests  of  the  State 
with  conspicuous  fidelity,  ability  and  integrity. 

Through  all  the  dark  and  perplexing  period  of  the  Civil  War  he 
was  the  invaluable  friend  and  counsellor  of  Governor  Vance. 
They  were  both  Whigs,  both  lovers  of  the  Union,  both  full  of 
fun  and  humor,  both  children  of  the  soil  and  men  of  the  people, 
both  scholars  well  versed  in  Shakespeare  and  the  Bible,  both  men 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Sr.  445 

of  rare  personal  charm  and  marked  individualism.  Few  days 
passed  from  1862  to  1865  without  their  meeting  in  counsel.  Mr. 
Winston  was  never  in  favor  of  the  Civil  War,  but  when  it  came, 
he  bore  a  conspicuous  and  honorable  part  in  the  State  and  Con- 
federate councils.  He  moved  his  family  from  Eastern  North 
Carolina,  owing  to  the  disorders  and  dangers  prevailing  there 
during  the  war,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  his  native  county 
of  Franklin.  Although  residing  there  only  temporarily,  this 
county  selected  him  as  its  sole  representative  in  the  constitutional 
convention  of  1865,  a  body  of  men  chosen  for  wisdom,  patriotism 
and  sagacity  to  deal  with  the  most  momentous  problems  that 
ever  confronted  the  State.  In  this  convention  Mr.  Winston  was 
conspicuous  as  a  leader  and  a  wise,  conservative  statesman.  His 
record  shows  with  what  sagacity,  fortitude  and  dignity  he  met  the 
disasters  of  defeat.  While  many  who  had  urged  secession  were 
now  cowering  and  submissive,  he,  with  others  who  had  resisted 
secession,  were  determined  not  to  yield  their  own  self-respect  nor 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people.  They  formed  a  new  party, 
called  "Conservative,"  and  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  its  name.  Mr. 
Winston  could  have  been  nominated  for  governor,  but  recog- 
nizing the  unwisdom  of  his  own  nomination  because  of  active 
service  in  behalf  of  the  Confederacy,  he  brought  forward  the  name 
of  Jonathan  Worth,  a  Quaker  of  Randolph  County,  who  was 
nominated  and  triumphantly  elected.  Mr.  Winston  was  president 
of  the  Council  of  State  during  Governor  Worth's  administration. 
In  1868  he  was  offered  the  nomination  for  Congress  in  the  First 
Congressional  District,  having  moved  back  to  Bertie  County,  but 
declined  the  offer,  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  devoted  him- 
self exclusively  to  the  practice  of  law,  the  repairing  of  fortunes 
shattered  by  war  and  the  education  of  his  children. 

His  work  as  a  lawyer  kept  him  busy.  He  was  employed  in 
every  case  of  importance  in  his  section  of  the  State.  In  the  cele- 
brated Johnston  will  case,  in  which  were  engaged  sixteen  of  the 
State's  foremost  lawyers,  Mr,  Winston  was  selected  to  make  the 
leading  argument  in  behalf  of  the  will  on  appeal  before  the 
Supreme  Court.    His  speech  exhibits  every  resource  of  a  strong 


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446  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  fertile  mind,  well  trained  in  law  and  skilled  in  lucid  exposition* 
The  will  was  sustained. 

As  a  man  of  business  he  was  unusually  gifted,  managing  with 
rare  skill  and  success  large  fishing  and  farming  properties,  giving 
personal  attention  to  all  details.  He  knew  the  personal  character- 
istics of  each  laborer  in  his  employment,  and  even  of  each  animal. 
His  weekly  visits  to  his  plantations  were  a  source  of  delight  to  the 
humblest  laborer.  All  enjoyed  his  love  of  fun,  his  sunny  humor, 
his  shrewd  wisdom,  as  well  as  his  generosity  and  sympathy. 

On  January  i,  1846,  Mr.  Winston  was  married  to  Martha 
Elizabeth  Byrd,  a  lady  of  rare  beauty,  sweet  disposition  and  most 
lovable  character.  In  her  veins  mingled  the  blood  of  Scotch, 
German,  English  and  French  ancestors — Byrds,  Watsons,  Cape- 
harts,  Masons  and  Razeurs,  all  families  of  wealth,  culture  and 
refinement.  She  was  a  model  woman,  loving  with  her  whole  heart 
her  husband  and  children,  devoting  her  life*  to  the  making  of  a 
happy  home,  receiving  and  giving  hospitality,  visiting  the  poor 
and  afflicted,  nursing  the  sick  and  aged,  avoiding  scandal  and 
gossip,  loyal  to  friends  and  kindred,  and  busy  every  hour  of  the 
day,  indoors  or  out,  with  the  duties  of  a  housewife.  "There  was 
a  rectitude  and  a  consistency  of  character  in  her  that  I  could 
depend  on,"  wrote  Mrs.  Cornelia  Phillips  Spencer  at  her  death, 
"and  a  self-respect  and  dignity  of  carriage  and  a  personal  dainti- 
ness that  I  was  never  tired  of  observing.  How  she  loved  her 
children,  and  how  justly  proud  in  her  quiet,  undemonstrative  way 
she  was  of  you  all !  How  you  will  miss  her — the  thought  of  her — 
that  upright,  firm,  neat  little  figure,  always  carefully  well  dressed, 
always  employed,  always  polite,  attentive,  well  bred,  the  model 
of  a  lady  of  the  generation  of  sixty  years  ago."  She  lived  with 
her  husband,  without  ever  a  quarrel  or  a  harsh  word  on  either 
side,  for  forty-two  years.  No  wonder  that  Patrick  Henry 
Winston,  virile,  masculine,  great  in  body  and  mind,  tender  and 
loving  in  heart,  put  aside  a  public  career  for  the  joys  of  domestic 
life  with  a  wife  so  richly  and  charmingly  endowed.  Their  home, 
"Windsor  Castle,"  proudly  overlooking  the  town  of  Windsor,  rich 
in  good  literature  and  good  living,  abounding  in  genuine  and  in- 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Sr.  447 

formal  hospitality,  sweet  in  the  confidence  and  communion  of 
father,  mother  and  children,  was  a  model  North  Carolina  home,  a 
noble  illustration  of  the  great  truth  that  the  home  is  the  basis  of 
civilization,  the  foundation  of  all  virtues,  the  strength  of  every 
State. 

In  the  midst  of  professional  work  that  few  lawyers  could  per- 
form and  of  business  cares  and  labors  that  would  have  crushed 
an  ordinary  man,  Mr.  Winston  found  time  for  daily  culture,  in- 
struction and  entertainment  in  study,  reading  and  composition. 
His  mind  was  never  idle.  His  large  and  select  library  was 
increased  each  year  by  additions  of  the  most  valuable  publications 
in  literature  and  the  sciences.  His  old  playmate,  now  his  book- 
seller in  New  York,  Edward  J.  Hale,  Sr.,  himself  a  scholar  and 
student,  would  ship  him  regularly  twice  a  year  select  consign- 
ments of  literature.  His  own  orders  for  books  and  magazines 
kept  pace  with  the  progress  of  thought  and  discovery  throughout 
the  world.  His  mind  took  in  everything.  Its  chief  quality  was 
thoroughness,  getting  to  the  bottom  of  things.  He  studied  astron- 
omy for  thirty  years.  His  knowledge  of  political  economy  was  vast 
and  profound.  He  knew  Shakespeare  as  intimately,  as  lovingly,  as 
completely  as  he  knew  Badger,  Webster  and  Clay.  For  twenty 
years  during  the  summer  months  he  would  read  a  play  of  Shake- 
speare's each  day  after  dinner  or  supper.  The  long  winter  evenings 
were  usually  spent  in  study  or  composition.  He  was  a  charming 
letter  writer ;  style  crisp,  clear,  virile  and  strongly  individual ;  sub- 
ject-matter ranging  from  roe-herrings  to  lunar  eclipses,  from  town 
gossip  to  Emerson,  from  backyard  events  to  the  downfall  of  em- 
pires; spelling,  punctuation,  rhetoric  as  correct  as  Addison; 
chirography  equal  to  copper-plate  engraving.  No  person  ever 
received  a  letter  from  him  without  being  specially  attracted  by 
some  striking  peculiarity  in  it.  His  correspondence  with  friends, 
relatives,  children  and  men  of  business  would  have  consumed  all 
the  time  of  an  average  man.  To  one  of  his  children  he  wrote 
three  times  a  week,  and  often  daily,  for  twenty-five  years.  To 
his  wife,  when  away  from  home,  he  wrote  always  daily  and  some- 
times twice  or  thrice  in  the  same  mail.     His  letters  were  often 


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448  NORTH  CAROLINA 

only  two  words  long,  occasionally  six  or  eight  pages.  He  could 
compress  into  one  page  a  volume  of  information  or  instruction. 
The  late  Thomas  D.  Hogg  used  to  say  that  a  letter  received  by 
him  in  Strasbourg  from  Mr.  Winston  in  Windsor  told  more  about 
the  cathedral  and  the  clock  than  he  could  find  out  in  Strasbourg. 
His  mind  was  Shakespearian.  The  joy  of  creation  pervaded  all 
his  thoughts  and  utterances,  and  underneath  his  fancies  and 
pleasantries  lay  the  indestructible  foundation  of  hard  common 
sense. 

Mr.  Winston  took  great  delight  in  the  education  of  his  children. 
He  had  been  a  teacher  early  in  life,  and  possessed  rare  talents  for 
imparting  instruction  and  developing  the  faculties  of  young  minds. 
As  each  son  returned  home  from  school  or  college  he  was  put 
through  the  most  rigid  examination  in  spelling  or  reading,  Latin 
or  geometry,  astronomy  or  political  economy.  A  misspelled  word 
hurt  him,  a  grammatical  error  almost  put  him  to  bed.  Every  son 
was  required  to  study  Blackstone  at  home,  and  made  to  learn  it 
accurately,  word  for  word.  One  slovenly  definition  and  shut 
would  go  the  book!  Silently  and  quietly  he  would  pass  you  by 
for  full  forty-eight  hours.  He  was  never  so  happy  as  when  he 
would  come  home  from  his  law  office  and  find  his  sons  reading 
Shakespeare  or  Scott.  Great  \vas  his  disgust  when  he  learned 
that  one  of  his  sons  at  college  in  New  York  was  studying  political 
economy,  the  science  of  Adam  Smith,  of  Leon  Say,  of  Francis 
W^ayland  and  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  in  a  200-page  text-book  whose 
author's  name  on  the  title-page  read  "E.  Peshine  Smith,"  and 
whose  title  was  *Tolitical  Economy  for  American  Readers." 
"Peshine  Smith !"  he  exclaimed.  '* Political-Economy- for- Ameri- 
can-Readers? I  suppose  your  college  has  also  a  multiplication- 
table-for-American-calculators." 

Under  the  widespreading  trees  of  Windsor  Castle  with  its  10- 
acre  lawn  and  its  200  acres  of  forest  and  field,  father  and  sons 
would  gather,  each  recurring  vacation,  twice  a  year,  as  they 
returned  from  Horner's,  or  Chapel  Hill,  or  Cornell,  or  the  Naval 
Academy,  and  hold  such  communion  of  wit  and  humor,  fun  and 
frolic,  thought  and  fancy  as  only  loving  hearts  and  sympathetic 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Sr.  449 

souls  can  share.  The  father  was  always  the  central  figure,  inspiring, 
instructing,  admonishing  and  guiding,  ever  with  gentle  touch  and 
rather  by  example  than  precept.  His  four  sons,  one  as  lawyer, 
orator,  wit  and  humorist;  one  as  scholar,  educator  and  college 
president;  one  as  lawyer,  legislator,  judge  and  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor ;  one  as  legislator,  lawyer,  judge  and  man  of  affairs,  brought 
credit  and  honor  to  the  good  home  and  the  goodly  heritage  of  such 
a  father  and  mother.  An  only  daughter,  educated  at  St.  Mary's 
School,  blessed  with  health,  intellect  and  all  womanly  graces, 
brought  joy  and  gladness  to  both  father  and  mother  as  the  loving 
wife  of  a  splendid  North  Carolina  lawyer,  orator  and  statesman. 
To  have  given  North  Carolina  such  a  contribution  of  citizenship 
would  well  repay  the  labors  and  cares  of  his  long  and  busy  life. 
But  he  himself  was  superior  to  any  of  his  children  in  the  g^eat 
sum  total  of  human  faculties  and  accomplishments,  in  wit  and 
humor,  in  learning  and  scholarship,  in  wisdom  and  judgment,  in 
breadth  and  depth  of  intellect.  He  was  a  massive,  powerful,  self- 
made  man;  vigorous,  virile  and  strong  in  mind,  body  and  soul; 
as  tender  as  a  woman,  loving  flowers,  children,  girls,  clouds  and 
forests ;  as  brave  as  a  lion,  loving  every  hero  in  life  and  literature ; 
as  human  as  ordinary  folks,  feeling  to  the  full  and  realizing  in 
his  life  the  beautiful  sentiment  of  Terence,  **Homo  sum,  nil 
humani  ante  alienum  puto," 

George  T.  Winston. 


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PATRICK   HENRY   WINSTON,  Jr. 

TATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Jr.,  lawyer, 
journalist,  orator,  wit  and  humorist,  was  bom 
in  Windsor,  North  Carolina,  August  22,  1847, 
and  died  in  Spokane,  Washington,  April  3, 1904, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-seven.  He  was  the  first  child 
of  Patrick  Henry  Winston,  Sr.,  and  Martha 
Elizabeth  Byrd,  inheriting  to  a  degree  which  approached  genius 
the  brilliant  mental  qualities  of  the  Winston  family.  From  child- 
hood to  death  he  was  the  wonder,  the  delight  or  the  terror  of  all 
who  knew  him.  Wherever  he  went  crowds  gathered  around, 
charmed  by  his  speech.  His  powers  of  description,  his  brilliant 
imagination,  his  infinite  fancy,  his  sparkling  and  flashing  wit,  his 
droll,  irresistible  humor,  his  unbounded  sympathy,  his  intellectual 
power  and  audacity,  furnished  to  all  beholders  an  endless  display 
of  mental  gymnastics  and  pyrotechnics,  leaving  impressions  that 
lasted  a  lifetime.  He  was  a  close  observer  of  men  and  things,  re- 
membering all  that  he  saw.  He  was  an  omnivorous  reader  of 
books  and  journals,  forgetting  nothing  that  he  read.  He  was  a 
ceaseless,  original  and  daring  thinker.  His  mind  swept  from 
Mother  Goose  to  Shakespeare,  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  space, 
from  creation  to  doomsday.  He  was  full  of  reverence,  and  yet 
he  would  have  joked  with  Moses  or  Methuselah.  He  worshiped 
great  men  and  ridiculed  authority.  He  wept  with  the  sorrowful 
and  made  them  laugh.    He  was  a  mighty  democrat,  and  despised 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Jr.  451 

the  common  herd.  He  was  a  perfect  aristocrat,  and  laughed  at 
aristocracy.  A  hundred  times  a  day,  in  joke,  witticism,  metaphor 
or  anecdote,  he  squandered  enough  mental  and  nervous  power 
to  last  an  ordinary  man  six  months.  But  the  drudgery  of  per- 
sistent and  systematic  labor  he  never  endured,  even  for  one  hour. 
He  left  no  visible  memorial  of  his  greatness ;  but  he  was  one  of 
the  most  brilliant,  eloquent,  versatile  and  captivating  of  all  the 
sons  of  the  old  North  State.  He  was  famous  throughout  the 
Union,  and  probably  was  better  known,  and  more  widely  known, 
than  any  North  Carolinian  of  his  generation. 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  such  a  man  or  to  give  a  satisfactory 
account  of  his  career.  His  personality  always  outshone  and 
dazzled  his  achievement.  Of  thousands  who  knew  him,  none  can 
forget  him ;  and  yet  few  recall  his  achievements.  But  his  achieve- 
ments, if  performed  by  other  men  of  lesser  genius,  would  have 
brought  them  fame.  The  public  offices  that  he  held,  the  honors 
that  he  achieved,  the  services  that  he  rendered,  added  nothing  to 
his  fame,  but  seemed  rather  to  detract  from  his  greatness,  so  im- 
mense was  his  personality. 

Mr.  Winston's  greatest  public  service  was  in  1874.  The  people 
of  the  State  were  rallyirtg  from  the  shock  of  Civil  War  and  the 
humiliation  of  Reconstruction.  Restless  under  the  dominion  of 
carpet-bagger  and  scalawag,  they  were  ready  to  resume  the  reins 
of  self-government,  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  by  Federal 
bayonets.  They  had  carried  the  State  elections  in  August.  When 
the  General  Assembly  met  in  the  fall,  the  foremost  question  in  the 
public  mind  was,  **  Shall  we  call  a  convention  to  adopt  a  new  con- 
stitution or  shall  we  submit  longer  to  the  Canby  constitution,  a 
bastard  usurpation,  begotten  of  bayonets  and  negroes?"  The 
political  leaders  were  opposed  to  calling  a  convention.  They 
feared  the  Federal  Government,  remembering  how  Jonathan 
Worth,  the  people's  governor,  had  been  driven  by  Federal  power 
from  the  State  Capitol  and  supplanted  by  William  W.  Holden. 
"Let  well  enough  alone,"  they  said.  "It  is  too  great  a  risk  to 
call  a  convention  of  the  people.  There  is  no  telling  what  the 
convention  will  do,  nor  what  the  Federal  Government  will  do." 


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452  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Popular  sentiment  favored  a  convention,  but  lacked  a  leader.  It 
needed  an  orator  to  give  it  voice,  a  thinker  to  formulate  its  reasons, 
a  dreamer  to  tell  and  interpret  its  visions,  a  patriot  to  deny  and 
defy  all  authority  but  that  of  the  people.  It  needed  all  these,  and 
forth  they  came,  orator,  thinker,  dreamer,  patriot,  united  in  the 
person  of  Patrick  Winston,  at  that  time  twenty-eight  years  of 
age,  and  reading  clerk  of  the  State  Senate.  A  petition  was  circu- 
lated among  the  members  asking  him  to  address  the  legislature  and 
the  public  in  Tucker  Hall.  Those  who  knew  him  well  knew  what 
was  coming.  Some  feared  the  consequences  and  begged  him  not 
to  speak;  others  cheered,  urged,  demanded  that  he  speak  and 
redeem  his  State;  still  others,  who  knew  him  only  as  wit  and 
humorist,  considered  it  a  splendid  joke,  and  went  "to  see  the  fun." 
The  occasion  and  the  man  had  met.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  all 
his  powers.  He  had  studied  under  Swain  at  the  University  the 
fundamental  principles  of  liberty  and  government;  had  fought 
with  the  barons  at  Runnymede ;  had  defied  tyranny  with  Hampden 
and  Pym;  had  lived  with  the  great  orators  of  the  people  in  all 
ages  and  countries;  had  felt  the  horrors  of  Civil  War  and  the 
degradation  of  Reconstruction.  He  spoke  for  two  hours.  When 
he  finished,  not  a  man  in  the  hall  was  free  from  the  spell  of  his 
eloquence.  The  convention  v^as  called,  the  constitution  was 
changed,  and  from  that  day  till  now  the  Old  North  State  has  been 
governed  by  her  own  sons. 

Mr.  Winston  was  educated  at  the  Homer  School,  Oxford,  North 
Carolina,  and  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  where  he  was 
graduated  June,  1867,  with  the  highest  honors  in  scholarship  as 
valedictorian  of  his  class.  His  graduating  oration  commanded 
wide  attention  throughout  the  State ;  the  occasion  was  memorable. 
President  Andrew  Johnson,  Secretary  of  State  William  H. 
Seward,  Postmaster-General  Randall,  with  the  leading  officials  and 
citizens  of  North  Carolina,  were  seated  on  the  platform  with  the 
graduating  class.  Winston's  father,  who  was  detained  in  Raleigh 
by  business  before  the  Supreme  Court,  had  sent  him  a  gold  watch 
by  Secretary  Seward.  At  the  end  of  his  brilliant  speech,  Secre- 
tary Seward  arose,  congratulated  him  on  his  eloquence  and  grace- 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Jr.  453 

fully  presented  the  watch,  at  the  same  time  most  graciously  adding 
to  it  a  handsome  gold  chain,  which  he  himself  had  worn  for  thirty 
years. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  young  Winston  entered  the  Confederate 
army  as  aide-de-camp  to  Governor  Vance,  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, in  March,  1865,  he  was  on  his  way  to  join  the  Fourth  North 
Carolina  Cavalry  when  the  news  came  of  Lee's  surrender. 

He  was  licensed  to  practice  law  in  1868,  and  moved  to  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  where  he  practiced  two  years.  In  1870  he 
married  Miss  Virginia  B.  Miller  of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  and 
moved  to  that  city.  In  1873  he  returned  to  North  Carolina,  and 
in  1884  moved  to  the  Pacific  coast,  locating  first  in  Lewiston, 
Idaho,  and  afterward  in  Spokane,  Washington. 

He  was  a  trustee  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina  under 
election  by  the  General  Assembly  and  a  director  of  the  Albemarle 
and  Chesapeake  Canal  under  appointment  by  Governor  Vance. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  two  National  Democratic  and  two  National 
Republican  conventions ;  was  a  Presidential  elector ;  was  register  of 
the  land  office  in  Lewiston,  Idaho,  by  appointment  of  President 
Arthur;  district  attorney  of  the  Territory  of  Washington  by  ap- 
pointment of  President  Harrison,  and  the  first  attorney-general  of 
the  State  of  Washington  by  popular  election. 

He  was  the  owner  and  editor  of  three  newspapers — the  Albe- 
marle Times,  published  in  Windsor,  North  Carolina ;  the  Spokane 
Reznew  and  Winston's  Weekly,  both  published  in  Spokane,  Wash- 
ington. His  writings  sparkled  with  wit,  humor  and  brilliant 
thought,  set  forth  in  original  style. 

Mr.  Winston  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  physical  manhood, 
strong,  handsome  and  commanding.  He  was  a  first-class  animal, 
enjoying  all  the  pleasures  of  life ;  his  head  was  large  and  Napole- 
onic, brow  high  and  broad,  nose  large  and  aquiline,  eyes  bright, 
clear  and  sunny.  Every  feature  was  perfect,  all  nicely  and  har- 
moniously blending  into  a  face  that  was  noble  and  handsome.  The 
portrait  accompanying  this  sketch  expresses  but  faintly  the 
gracious  dignity  of  his  presence.  His  most  striking  qualities  were 
humor  and  reverence.    His  reverence  was  profound,  including  in 


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454  NORTH  CAROLINA 

its  sweep  not  only  things  divine,  but  all  humanity  and  all  nature. 
The  following  verses,  written  in  his  twentieth  year,  contain  some 
fine  touches  of  poetic  feeling  and  breathe  a  deep  spirit  of  reverence : 

*'0h,  God,  thou  speakest  to  me 
Through  great  Nature's  minstrelsy, 

That  hymns  thy  glory  and  thy  works  proclaim; 
The  clouds  that  float  and  fly 
In  the  azure-tinted  sky. 

Put  the  scoffer  to  confusion  and  to  shame. 

"The  bow  that  bends  on  high, 

And  the  winds  that  breathe  and  sigh, 

Tell  the  story  of  thy  wisdom  and  thy  love. 
While  the  waves  that  toss  and  roar 
On  the  purple  pink-shell  shore, 

Are  but  echoes  from  the  throne  that  is  above. 

"The  mountain  grand  and  tall, 
From  whose  heights  the  shadows  fall. 

Are  but  sentinels  to  guard  the  human  race; 
While  the  rivers  and  the  streams 
And  the  moon  that  brightly  beams, 

Borrow  splendor  from  thy  sweet  and  holy  face. 

"The  flowers  that  fragrance  lend 
While  their  colors  softly  blend, 

Breathe  a  sweetness  that  alone  Your  works  possess, 
And  the  rain  drops  and  the  dew 
Are  the  dear  gifts  sent  by  You, 

To  the  world  they  wet  and  cool  and  bless. 

"But  the  graves  of  grassy  green. 
On  which  fall  the  silvery  sheen 

From  the  stars  that  glow  so  brightly  up  on  high. 
Are  the  links  that  firmly  bind 
My  heart  and  soul  and  mind 

To  the  God  who  rules  the  earth  from  out  the  sky." 

Thirty-seven  years  later,  just  before  his  death,  the  following 
editorial  by  him  in  Winston's  Weekly  expressed  almost  the  same 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Jr.  455 

ideas;  a  beautiful  prose  poem,  showing  the  depth  and  the  wide 
sweep  of  his  love,  sympathy  and  reverence : 

"There  is  something  for  all  to  love,  both  in  nature  and  in  life.  The 
mountains  in  the  gloom  of  their  lofty  glory,  the  ocean  in  the  ample 
majesty  of  its  solitude,  the  clouds— eternal  palaces  of  shade  and  shadow 
— ^the  ordered  music  of  the  marching  orbs,  the  blossomed  flowers,  the* 
freshness  of  morning,  the  green  of  grassy  slopes  and  forest  glades,  the 
songs  of  birds,  the  gathering  twilight,  the  fields  of  waving  grain,  the 
running  rivers,  the  sweet  strains  of  melody  and  of  music,  the  stillness 
of  night,  the  setting  sun  as  it  doubles  the  lengthening  shadows — these  are 
some  of  the  things  that  nature  has  provided  us  that  we  can  love.  And 
the  things  of  life?  Our  homes  that  ought  to  be  palaces  of  peace  and  rest, 
our  books  the  only  monuments  that  are  proof  against  death.  And  the 
living  things?  Little  children,  ourselves  in  miniature,  recalling  all  that 
is  sweetest  in  our  past.    There  is  plenty  to  love." 

Few  men  surpassed  him  in  repartee.  He  was  quick,  brilliant 
and  overpowering.  His  reply  to  the  Populist  at  Spokane  went  over 
the  continent.  He  was  addressing  a  mixed  convention  of  Demo- 
crats, Silver  Republicans  and  Populists,  and  pouring  the  oil  of 
eloquence  over  the  troubled  waters  of  political  discord.  Every- 
thing seemed  smooth  and  harmonious,  when  suddenly  a  wild, 
bushy-haired  and  long-whiskered  Populist  rushed  forward  to  the 
platform,  shook  his  fist  at  the  speaker  and  shouted,  "I  am  tired 
of  your  glittering  generalities ;  I  wish  you  to  discuss  living  ques- 
tions." "Well,  my  friend,"  replied  Winston,  lowering  his  bald 
head  and  smooth-shaven  face  to  a  few  feet  from  the  haystack 
of  hair  in  front  of  him,  "what  do  you  wish  me  to  discuss?"  "Ex- 
plain to  this  audience,"  shouted  the  Populist,  "the  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  wealth."  "I  will  do  so  with  pleasure,"  said  Winston 
in  his  blandest  tones,  "but  first,  my  friend,  will  you  explain  to  this 
audience  the  unequal  distribution  of  hairf" 

In  1894  the  Populist  convention  of  Washington  refused  to  en- 
dorse Colonel  Winston  for  Congress  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
a  lawyer.  On  the  journey  home  he  was  talking  politics  with  a 
chance  acquaintance,  who  during  the  conversation  desired  to  know 
the  Populist  sentiment  on  some  public  question.  "Colonel,"  said 
he,  "what  do  the  Populists  think—?"     "Think!"  broke  in  the 


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456  NORTH  CAROLINA 

colonel.  "Good  Lx)rd,  man,  what  has  a  Populist  got  to  think 
with?" 

On  another  occasion  he  was  speaking  at  a  banquet  in  Tacoma, 
Washington.  A  delegation  of  Eastern  capitalists  were  being 
feted  in  expectation  of  heavy  investments  in  Tacoma  waterfronts. 
"Winston  had  spoken  several  minutes  in  solemn  style,  when  some 
zealous  Tacoman,  longing  for  pyrotechnics,  pulled  his  coat-tail 
and  suggested  in  a  stage  whisper,  *'Colonel,  tell  them  about  the 
whales  in  the  harbor,"  referring  to  a  species  of  small  fish  that 
spouted  water  and  were  called  whales  in  derision.  '*Yes,  gentle- 
men," said  Winston,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  "there  is  no 
place  on  earth  like  Tacoma,  for  we  have  whales  in  the  harbor, 
sharks  on  the  avenue  and  suckers  everywhere!" 

The  colonel  gave  a  Spokane  crowd  the  following  explanation 
of  how  he  earned  his  title.  "Down  in  North  Carolina,"  said  he, 
"a  shrewd  old  gentleman  used  to  keep  a  hotel  in  Raleigh  called 
the  Yarborough  House,  and  it  was  his  custom  to  confer  titles  on 
all  his  guests.  One  day  he  would  address  each  newcomer  as 
'judge,'  the  next  day  as  'major,'  the  next  as  *colonel,'  and  so  on. 
The  day  I  arrived  he  was  dealing  in  'colonels.'  If  I  had  come  a 
day  later,  I  would  have  been  a  'general.' " 

Political  harness  rested  lightly  upon  him.  He  belonged  to  all 
parties  and  ridiculed  all.  On  returning  from  his  first  North 
Carolina  State  Republican  Convention,  a  crowd  of  Democratic 
friends  greeted  him  at  the  station  and  asked  the  news.  **Boys,** 
said  he,  "you  know  I  left  the  Democratic  Party  because  I  could 
not  stand  old  Blank  and  old  Blank  and  some  of  the  other  leaders. 
Well,  you  just  ought  to  see  what  a  h — ^11  of  a  crowd  I've  got  in 
with  now." 

"Colonel,"  said  a  friend,  "how  do  you  like  Jefferson  Davis's 
book,  "The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  States"?  "Fine," 
said  he,  "all  but  the  last  page.  There  are  two  volumes,  2000  pages ; 
I  read  1999  pages  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  On  every  page  the 
Yankees  were  running  like  turkeys  and  we  right  after  them ;  but 
when  I  turned  over  the  last  page,  to  my  perfect  amazement,  with- 
out the  least  explanation,  our-army-had-surrendered  I" 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Jr.  457 

A  friend  from  North  Carolina,  desiring  to  locate  in  Spokane, 
wrote  to  Colonel  Winston  asking  him  for  information  about  that 
city,  and  especially  about  its  leading  industries.  His  reply  was 
characteristic : 

"Dear  Sir:  There  are  only  two  industries  in  Spokane — grand  and 
petit  larceny.  Unless  you  are  very  proficient  in  one  or  both  of  these, 
don't  come!" 

During  his  absence  from  home  his  law  office  in  Spokane  was 
burned.  The  crowd  gathered  on  his  return  to  tell  the  news  and 
hear  his  comments.  "Colonel,"  shouted  one  of  the  boys,  "your 
law  office  is  burned  I"  "Well,"  he  replied,  "I  hope  the  mortgage 
on  it  is  burned  too."  He  was  never  taken  by  surprise ;  never  at 
a  loss  for  words,  ideas,  arguments,  jokes,  witticisms  or  anecdotes. 
His  arrival  was  an  event  in  the  life  of  any  town;  his  departure 
left  a  dead  calm,  or  a  vacuum.  He  worshiped  genius  and  spent 
much  of  his  life  reading,  talking  and  writing  about  the  world's 
geniuses.  He  had  little  respect  for  mere  authority.  "Colonel 
Winston,"  said  President  Arthur,  pulling  out  his  watch  with  some 
impatience,  "I  have  now  given  you  thirty  minutes  of  my  time." 
"Yes,  and  by  God !  sir,  I  gave  you  three  months  of  my  time  last 
summer  as  a  Garfield  and  Arthur  elector."  "Sit  down.  Colonel 
Winston,  sit  down,  sir ;  you  shall  have  all  the  time  you  wish." 

Even  when  there  was  nothing  to  say,  he  said  it  and  made  an 
argument  of  it.  Perhaps  the  shortest  legal  speech  on  record  was 
that  made  by  him  in  prosecuting  a  negro  in  North  Carolina  for 
stealing  a  pig.  The  solicitor  was  called  away,  and  asked  Winston 
to  appear  for  him.  Not  a  witness  nor  a  fact  was  available. 
Rising  with  great  dignity,  he  said,  "Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  this 
is  a  case  of  larceny — a  nigger  charged  with  stealing  a  pig.  There 
are  three  elements  in  cases  of  this  sort :  the  bill  of  indictment,  the 
nigger  and  the  pig.  Here  is  the  bill  of  indictment  (waving  the 
paper),  yonder's  the  nigger  and  (after  a  solemn  pause)  where-is- 
the-pig?"  The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  without  leaving  the 
room. 

Mr.  Winston  was  deeply  loved  and  highly  honored  by  the  people 


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458  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  Washington.  His  genius,  his  boldness,  his  originality,  his  love 
of  justice,  his  intense  honesty  and  unselfishness,  no  less  than  his 
eloquence,  his  learning,  his  wit,  humor,  pathos  and  love  of  fun 
made  him  one  of  the  most  conspicuous,  picturesque  and  popular 
figures  on  the  Pacific  coast.  But  his  great  success  did  not  satisfy 
his  heart.  He  longed  for  the  old  times  and  the  old  friends  of  the 
State  of  his  birth.  How  touching  is  this  description  of  an  old-time 
North  Carolina  Christmas,  which  appeared  in  Winston's  Weekly 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death  1 

CHRISTMAS. 

"Next  Friday  will  be  Christmas. 

"No  otfier  day  recalls  so  many  sweet  memories.  As  I  think  of  it  the 
past  comes  back  to  me  like  a  happy  dream.  I  am  once  more  a  child,  I  see 
the  face  of  my  father,  I  feel  his  arms  around  me.  I  hear  his  voice.  I 
see  mother,  her  face  is  aglow  with  the  light  of  love. 

"The  well-filled  stocking  hangs  by  the  chimney  corner.  The  first  light 
of  a  soft  Southern  Christmas  morning  is  creeping  through  the  window 
blinds.  I  hear  the  stealthy  footsteps  of  the  house  servants  as  they  creep 
to  the  door  to  catch  old  master's  Christmas  gift. 

"  'Christmas  gift,  master — Christmas  gift,  master.'     I  hear  them  now. 

"I  see  the  village  church,  above  whose  simple  altar  were  inscribed  in 
letters  made  of  Southern  foliage  the  words: 

"  'Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest  and  on  Earth  Peace.' 

"I  behold  the  faces  of  the  little  congregation,  radiant  with  the  spirit  of 
Christmas,  so  many  of  them  bound  to  me  by  ties  of  blood  and  love.  I 
hear  the  voices  of  the  choir  chanting  the  Christmas  carol,  and  the  peal  of 
the  organ  reverberating  within  walls  decorated  with  glossy  holly  and 
redolent  cedar. 

"Once  more  I  take  my  place  at  the  table  and  partake  of  the  Christmas 
cheer.  Around  that  hospitable  board  are  gathered  father,  mother,  brothers 
and  sister.  The  old  black  mammy,  arrayed  in  all  the  glory  of  Christmas 
gifts,  the  ebony  butler  beaming  with  pride,  the  good  old  housekeeper 
bustling  and  nervous  lest  something  be  wanting  to  complete  the  feast, 
the  eager  and  expectant  faces  of  the  little  darkies  peeping  in  at  the  door, 
the  table  loaded  with  everything  good  to  cat,  cooked  as  only  'old  Aunt 
Charlotte'  could  cook  it,  the  Christmas  tree,  ready  to  be  lighted,  in  the 
center  of  the  table  1  I  can  see  it  all,  and  I  hear  my  father's  voice  saying: 
'Bless,  O  Lord,  these  mercies  to  our  use  and  us  to  thy  service.* 


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PATRICK  HENRY  WINSTON,  Jr.  459 

"When  all  is  over — the  happy  greetings,  the  bountiful  feast,  the  gifts  of 
loving  hearts,  the  day  consecrated  by  the  faith  of  centuries — and  night  has 
come  once  more,  I  feel  upon  my  lips  my  mother's  good-night  kiss." 

At  his  death  the  bar  of  Spokane,  through  a  committee  of  its 
leading  jurists  and  lawyers,  placed  on  his  grave  "An  Open  Book" 
of  immortelles,  and  on  the  record  of  the  court  inscribed  the  fol- 
lowing estimate  of  his  life,  character  and  talents,  formed  after 
reading  for  twenty  years  the  open  book  of  his  life : 

"It  is  our  deliberate  judgement  that  for  wit  and  humor,  for  logic,  for 
eloquence,  for  learning,  for  love  of  justice,  for  kindness  of  heart,  for  sym- 
pathy with  the  unfortunate,  for  lofty  and  noble  Americanism,  he  had  no 
superior  in  this  or  any  other  age  of  our  country.  His  ready  and  pointed 
wit,  his  inimitable  expression,  his  forceful  and  unanswerable  logic,  were 
weapons  of  great  power,  which  he  used  only  to  promote  the  cause  of 
humanity  and  the  purpose  of  justice." 

George  T.  Winston. 


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GEORGE  TAYLOE   WINSTON 


lORGE  TAYLOE  WINSTON,  B.Litt.,  A.M., 
LL.D.,  educator,  was  born  October  12,  1852,  in 
Windsor,  Bertie  County,  North  Carolina,  the 
fourth  child  and  second  son  of  Patrick  Henry 
Winston,  Sr.,  and  Martha  Elizabeth  Byrd.  An 
account  of  the  Winston  and  Byrd  families  is 
given  in  the  sketch  of  Patrick  Henry  Winston,  Sr. 

George  Tayloe  Winston  inherited  the  qualities  of  both  parents, 
resembling  his  father,  however,  both  physically  and  mentally, 
more  closely  than  his  mother.  His  life  has  been  spent  in  study, 
either  as  pupil  or  as  teacher,  excepting  about  two  years,  which 
were  devoted  to. the  practical  management  of  his  father's  fishing 
and  farming  properties,  where  he  showed  business  talent  of  a 
very  high  order. 

After  graduation  with  highest  honors  from  the  Homer  School, 
Oxford,  North  Carolina,  he  entered  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina at  the  age  of  thirteen,  where  he  ranked  among  the  best 
scholars  in  a  large  class,  conspicuous  for  bright  men.  On  the 
suspension  of  the  University  in  1868,  he  entered  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy  as  a  cadet  midshipman,  by  appointment  of  Presi- 
dent Andrew  Johnson.  At  the  Naval  Academy  he  ranked  num- 
ber one  in  scholarship  in  a  class  of  seventy  members.  Among  his 
teachers  were  Admiral  David  D.  Porter,  Captain  (afterward 
Admiral)  George  Dewey,  Commander  (afterward  Admiral)  W.  T. 


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/-^ 


/  .   /  ^ 


/' 


/ 


/   .     /  /  /r,  .r^/-. 


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Gi:OR(xi:   TAVLOE    WINSTON 

rA>K(.il-:  'lAYLCiE  vVIXSTmN,  D.Litt  .  A 
V'Kf    J^I-i^-.  c/iuoaiv-r,  was  b«.rn  (  'ci.»i  ^r  u.  i"^. 
(*)    \\'iii'l>.)r,  I^crtie  Cuunty,   X'.'rtli   '^i-    .:.  • 
r J )    fourth  child  and  scccairi  s. 'n  ».»f  Talfi  ►    i: 
7//'^^^*-^^?^-^^  '  '•^    W'ms'.Dn,  Sr.,  an<l  Manila  rii/al><t'i  1*   '  * 
KSCijfek'^   aa-wiint  of  the  \\ii,^t.,:i  an-!   I'.yrd   l..r.i 
^;vcii  in  ihf  skt^U'h  of  Palnck  licnry  \\'in.st«  n,  Sr. 

G^..^^^e  Taslwc  W'insl'.-n  inhcriud  the  (piahuis  l!  i-  th  [    : 


hiS  father,  however,  h<^th  phy^ictlly  and  iiv 
•  Ulan  his  inotluT.  Il!v  life  has  hecn  ^i^:r>^  :n 
i|)d  or  a>  leach'T.  ^^x^eplin;^  ahoni   tW'»  ve.i'   . 


n  •  '■:  .  '".  t'"' 

C:\r.'.y   .-    ;> 

\\«'«     !'  .,:   d  to  th*c  [^raf^iicjil  n;an'.^' inent  of  hi>  fallie:'- 

3Tr'    :..  nn'r^j.    prc^j.erties,  where  he  slu.'we«!  hnsii.e^s   '  •".' 

very  i.,-!i  (.rder. 

AfUT  trta'hiaiii  n  wi'ii  h!i^''irvt  h.«'!i..r^  froin  t*  e  ll-  ::  '  r 
Oxf«jrd,  North  Cai'-hna.  hv  cnler'^d  the  I  ni\«  '•-^it^  »  f  ."*     :* 
hna   at   tlie  aizr  oi  tlii-^e-n,   v  ii-T*-   he   rani  .1   a  .i  i  :    ' 
bchohirs  in  a  har;;^*  cla><,  c-  iK'|.ien«r:s   t  .r   h'-j/t   :  '«  n. 
sii-i.'en>i   n  (-f  tl^e  I'niver:rit\   i-i  iS'»<^.  ]u  cntf^red  :!  ''  ^  't  :*i 


Isav'.l  A'Mdeinv  as  a  c.id<  t  nr 


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te.i<:hers  wr:e  A'hiiwJ  I).i\id  l>  i''.rr.r.  t'ap^ain 
Adrnralj  (a^iri:"'  lH*uey,  Conin;an''er  •'.ttfT^s  ..rd  .\  ! 


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Gi:(;R(ii:  tavlok  winston 

^^>--^;*— <"|j^''j^  L.L.I).,  cdiioaiT,  u.'iv  l)Min  i  ^cI'>1"T  i-.  i^'- 
"  r^  \ily  \^inf^'>r,  ]!.Tlic  Comity,  N'ortii  '^-r  '...• 
VJ  /rT)  fourth  chii<l  wwA  i-caui  .s  .n  nf  TairiCh  W 
**]jh.^^~^<;^f-^i'~^^  W'uistun,  Sr.,  an«l  MrwJ.a  i  ii^al'i'i  1'.  '  '. 
^'^^IzjQ/^^^^c^  acv.Hint  of  tlu'  Vvii.^l.ii  au<!  I'^ni  lai...!. 
t^ivcu  HI  lijf  .^kfU^h  of  l^a'.nck  llriirv  W  in>tf  n.  Sr. 

liK.r^^/'  Tayloc  \\'iiist<'n  inheiit^.^!  tlic  ([ualiii' s  •.  t  I    0\  ]    : 
r<,-i .!.'.'[ rr^   Ins    failicr,   however,    l>'^t!i    ph\<ic-i!l\    an«i    m  -r 
r:-.-:'  .'•<•  «•'    iImi.  lii.s  nir-tlicr.     lliv  life  h::s  l.t-cn  -;••  iif  in     ' 
C:\rr'i    ..•    ;.  i;m1  or  a>  teaclv-r.  '»\ccptin;^  al)oin   tvv.«  vca-   .   \ 
v\«    «     !    .  ■'   -1  to  ti;e  [>ra^iioiiI  ii\nr.^«  iiu*m  vi  hi>  fail':'-  '. 
air!    1.  ^:'''\.[.    \}:(r^,i:rrvs,  wl.erc  he  sIimwc-I   I  i.Mne--   *  i.'   .*. 
very  J.i>;'i  orti«T. 

After  'jrra'iuaii.  n  with  li!.;'  c^l  h<  'vt<  fruiu  t'-"  K*  :r'  r    ^ 
Oxford,  Xorlii  C'ar'.l'.:ri.  hv  c:u'.T'.'<1  :hc  I 'iii\  ••'■•^iiy  s  t  .      :*' 
liiia   at    tlie   atrr   ul    t'-.i-'cn.   v  ii'-r.*    ;>''    rani    •!    :.  .•   ' 
S'.b''iars  in  a  lar^f  cla-v.  r- .ii.-[  icii<":>   t  .r    Ij-:;'!  !    •     n 
si:-;."'n-i   11  <.f  tb»'  I'liive  ^iiy  m  iS'.-^.  !u-  ent«*r(.<:    !  f  '  ''.i'. 
^Nav  1  A':i;KM>n  as  a  ca  !«  t  i.i'  ■-•::;»''. .in.  hy  a}.|>'-i:\  ^  :  :     * 
(lent  Aii'Iifw  J'  i.n>.n.     A.l  \hc  Nava'  Aj.i  !•  niy  1      :.'r 
I'CT  0!.c  III  sci^  ilar  './.|>  in  a  ola^-.  ui  b«'v..itv  fTtcn.'  ("•«--      .'.. 
t'.,'.:her5    \\-:e    .\'l:-iir;.l    l)..\'l    !>     t'-aivf,    rap\.  n     ,  .:* 
Adriir.i!)  V  i-.'irL:'   I  Vucv.  C'cniiiiaii''c.r  .''a^t'Twar.!    \  ".    . '.. 


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GEORGE  TAYLOE  WINSTON        461 

Sampson.  On  account  of  seasickness  and  disinclination  to  naval 
life  he  resigned  his  commission  as  a  cadet  midshipman  in  1870, 
and  in  1871  entered  the  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  New  York, 
where,  in  1874,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  was  graduated  with 
highest  honors  as  Bachelor  of  Letters  and  as  a  member  of  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society.  During  his  junior  year  at  Cornell  he  won 
the  gold  medal  for  Latin  scholarship,  and  during  his  senior  year,  in 
recognition  of  his  character  and  his  mathematical  attainments,  he 
was  selected  to  fill  temporarily  the  chair  of  an  assistant  professor  of 
mathematics,  who  was  on  leave  of  absence  from  the  University. 
By  his  labors  as  tutor  in  Latin,  English  and  mathematics  young 
Winston  supported  himself  and  met  all  his  college  bills  during 
his  senior  year,  requiring  for  that  purpose  nearly  a  thousand  dol- 
lars. Almost  immediately  on  graduation,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  he  was  elected  assistant  professor  of  literature  in  the  faculty 
chosen  to  revive  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  his  former 
classmate,  Ralph  H.  Graves,  being  chosen  professor  of  mathe- 
matics. These  two  were  the  youngest  members  of  the  faculty, 
and  represented  in  it  the  modem  ideas  of  education.  They  were 
graduated  with  highest  honors  from  two  of  the  foremost  American 
Universities.  To  them  was  largely  entrusted  the  reorganization  of 
the  old  University  upon  modem  lines — the  arrangement  of  its 
courses  of  instruction,  schedules  of  work,  methods  of  teaching  and 
research  and  system  of  discipline.  The  University  was  reorganized 
on  lines  that  they  laid  down,  with  elective  courses  of  study  and 
high  standards  of  scholarship.  They  both  were  recognized  at  once 
as  thorough  scholars  and  great  teachers.  In  the  reorganization. 
Dr.  Charles  Phillips  was  made  chairman  of  the  faculty  and 
Winston  was  elected  secretary  of  the  faculty,  which  position  at 
that  time  was  one  of  large  executive  duties  and  responsibilities. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year  his  skill  as  a  teacher  and  his  devotion 
to  all  of  the  interests  of  the  University  were  rewarded  by  his 
promotion  to  a  full  professorship,  while  the  position  of  chairman 
of  the  faculty  was  eliminated,  and  Dr.  Kemp  P.  Battle  elected 
president  of  the  University.  During  the  fifteen  years  of  Dr. 
Battle's  presidency  Dr.  Winston  was  ever  active  and  strong,  by 


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462  NORTH  CAROLINA 

counsel  and  otherwise,  in  support  of  his  management  of  the  Uni- 
versity;  and  when,  in  1891,  Dr.  Battle  retired  from  the  presidency 
to  the  chair  of  history  and  Dr.  Winston  was  elected  president, 
then  in  turn  Dr.  Battle  gave  most  loyal  support  to  Winston's 
brilliant  administration,  a  fact  in  our  educational  history  as  beauti- 
ful and  significant  of  the  spirit  and  work  of  both  men  as  it  is  rare 
to  see  such  instances  in  the  educational  world.  As  a  teacher  he  was 
exacting  and  accurate,  requiring  diligence  of  his  pupils,  setting 
high  standards  of  scholarship,  spurring  up  the  indolent  and  re- 
jecting the  incompetent.  He  was  not  mechanical  nor  narrow,  but 
broad  and  inspiring,  giving  his  pupils  large  views  of  life  and  lofty 
ideals  of  manhood.  His  wit  and  humor  and  his  original  and 
striking  illustrations,  as  well  as  his  scholarship  and  learning,  ren- 
dered his  lectures  and  recitations  inspiring  and  attractive.  No 
pupil  was  with  him  long  without  receiving  deep  and  lasting 
impressions  of  his  character,  talents,  scholarship  and  strong  com- 
mon sense.  In  1 891,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  after  sixteen  years 
of  work  as  professor  of  Latin  and  German,  his  varied  and  bril- 
liant services  and  his  talents  for  management  as  well  as  for 
teaching  were  fittingly  recognized  and  rewarded  when,  by  unani- 
mous vote  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina.  He  was  the  first  professional 
teacher  ever  elected  to  that  office.  To  the  duties  of  the  presidency 
he  devoted  himself  with  energy,  enthusiasm  and  conspicuous 
ability,  throwing  his  whole  soul  into  the  work.  In  five  years  of 
his  administration  the  income  of  the  University  was  more  than 
doubled  and  the  number  of  students  almost  trebled;  the  alumni 
in  North  Carolina  and  other  States  were  organized  into  active 
associations  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  University,  the 
public  high  schools  and  academies  of  the  State  were  linked  with 
the  University  in  a  "system  of  affiliated  schools,"  the  State  was 
canvassed  from  one  end  to  the  other,  speeches  for  education  were 
made  before  schools,  colleges,  political  conventions  and  social 
clubs,  as  well  as  before  teachers'  institutes  and  other  educational 
gatherings. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  presidency  the  University  ranked  second 


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GEORGE  TAYLOE  WINSTON        463 

among  the  colleges  of  the  State  in  point  of  numbers ;  at  its  close 
the  number  of  students  was  larger  than  in  any  other  two  colleges. 
The  great  fight  against  State  aid  to  higher  education  came  to  a 
crisis  at  this  time.  President  Winston  met  it  with  boldness  and 
unflinching  determination,  throwing  into  the  conflict  all  his  talents 
and  resources,  and  filling  with  courage  and  enthusiasm  all  the 
friends  of  the  University  throughout  the  State.  The  real  question 
was  whether  or  not  the  State  should  be  driven  from  the  field  of 
higher  education  by  the  gradual  withdrawal  of  legislative  appro- 
priations to  the  University  and  other  State  colleges,  whether  the 
State  public  school  system  should  include  only  elementary  schools 
or  also  high  schools,  colleges  and  the  University.  After  much 
discussion,  instead  of  decreasing  appropriations,  the  legislature 
increased  them.  Under  President  Winston's  untiring  leadership 
the  fight  was  won,  establishing  forever  the  great  principle  of  State 
aid  to  higher  education,  and  placing  the  University  at  the  apex 
of  the  State's  school  system. 

Among  his  other  services  to  the  University  were  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  Dialectic  and  Philanthropic  libraries  with  the  Uni- 
versity library,  the  appointment  of  a  professional  librarian  and  the 
providing  of  a  permanent  library  endowment  fund ;  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  summer  school  for  teachers,  the  establishing  of  a  chair 
of  pedagogy  in  the  University  and  the  laying  of  foundations  for  a 
permanent  Normal  Department;  the  administration  of  the  Uni- 
versity free  from  political,  sectarian,  local  or  social  control;  the 
equipment  and  inauguration  of  Commons  Hall  to  furnish  students 
with  board  at  cost ;  the  large  increase  of  free  scholarships ;  aiding 
largely  the  endowment  of  the  chair  of  history,  and  the  initiation  of 
movements  for  the  Alumni  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings. 

During  the  fourth  year  of  his  presidency,  in  1895,  was  celebrated 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  opening  of  the  University. 
On  this  occasion,  which  was  obser\*ed  in  a  most  worthy  manner, 
were  present  the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  Hon.  Adlai 
E.  Stevenson,  and  other  distinguished  citizens,  besides  the  largest 
number  of  alumni  and  students  ever  seen  at  one  time  in  Chapel 
Hill. 


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464  NORTH  CAROLINA 

President  Winston's  chief  services  to  the  University  were  the 
thorough  organization  of  its  internal  work  and  life,  modernizing 
its  methods  of  instruction,  discipline  and  government ;  the  placing 
of  it  in  vital  connection  with  and  at  the  head  of  the  public  school 
system  of  the  State ;  its  popularization  by  scholarships  and  cheap 
living ;  rallying  to  its  support  at  a  critical  time  and  inspiring  with 
enthusiasm  its  friends  and  alumni;  and  leading  the  memorable 
campaign  in  the  great  contest  for  the  maintenance  of  the  principle 
of  State  aid  for  higher  education  and  for  the  more  liberal  support 
of  the  State's  entire  educational  system. 

In  1896,  after  five  years  of  splendid  administration,  which 
brought  great  reputation  throughout  the  Union  both  to  him  and 
to  the  State,  President  George  T.  Winston  was  called  from  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  to  be  president  of  the  University 
of  Texas.  Here  he  repeated  his  brilliant  record  as  public  speaker, 
scholar,  teacher,  organizer  and  administrative  officer,  bringing  the 
University  of  Texas  to  the  front  rank  among  American  colleges. 
In  three  years  he  added  greatly  to  the  income,  patronage,  popu- 
larity and  efficiency  of  that  institution,  organizing  it  internally, 
correlating  it  externally  with  the  school  system  of  the  State, 
making  it  popular  with  the  people  of  the  State  and  the 
legislature,  and  marking  out  for  it  new  and  broad  lines  of 
growth  according  to  the  highest  educational  ideals.  Three  years 
of  residence  in  the  semi-tropical  climate  of  Texas  threatened 
seriously  President  Winston's  health  and  reduced  to  invalidism 
three  members  of  his  family;  so  in  1899,  being  invited  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture 
and  Mechanic  Arts  to  return  to  his  native  State  to  become  presi- 
dent of  that  college  and  devote  himself  to  the  building  up  of  a 
great  technical  institution,  he  accepted  the  invitation  and  resigned 
the  presidency  of  the  University  of  Texas. 

His  career  as  president  of  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agri- 
culture and  Mechanic  Arts  has  proven  even  more  brilliant  and 
successful  than  before,  and  has  been  a  great  wonder  and  pleasure 
to  his  many  pupils  and  friends.  They  have  wondered  how  a 
classical  scholar,  after  twenty  years  of  work  as  teacher  in  and 


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GEORGE  TAYLOE  WINSTON        465 

president  of  literary  Universities,  could  so  successfully  build  up 
a  college  along  industrial  lines.  But  President  Winston's  two 
chief  characteristics  are  openmindedness  and  absolute  devotion  to 
whatever  work  he  undertakes.  With  these  guiding  principles,  his 
varied,  versatile,  brilliant  and  strong  mental  faculties  enable  him 
to  turn  easily,  successfully  and  happily  from  one  work  to  another 
of  entirely  different  character.  During  the  six  years  of  his  presi- 
dency in  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic 
Arts  he  has  trebled  the  number  of  students  and  doubled  the  in- 
come, the  faculty  and  the  equipment  of  the  college.  The  institution 
now  ranks  among  the  best  in  the  United  States  in  the  character  of 
its  work,  and  nothing  but  lack  of  buildings  and  equipment  pre- 
vents it  from  having  thousands  instead  of  hundreds  of  students. 
He  has  mapped  out  its  lines  of  growth.  The  future  will  see  it 
fully  developed  along  these  lines,  a  potent  factor  in  the  State's 
industrial  life. 

President  George  T.  Winston  has  been  a  strong  and  wholesome 
force  in  the  growth  of  North  Carolina  since  his  graduation  from 
the  Cornell  University  in  1874.  He  has  not  confined  himself  to 
teaching  and  lecturing  in  the  classroom,  nor  to  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative work  as  University  and  college  president;  but  as 
public  speaker,  writer,  lecturer  and  organizer  has  taken  an  active 
and  a  leading  part  in  the  promotion  of  educational  work  and  the 
encouragement  of  popular  progress  along  all  lines,  social,  moral, 
industrial  and  religious.  He  was  president  of  the  North  Carolina 
Teachers'  Assembly  in  1889  and  president  of  the  Southern  Asso- 
ciation of  Colleges  and  Universities  in  1895.  ^^^  ^ver  thirty  years 
he  has  been  actively  at  work,  through  the  press  and  on  the  platform, 
in  behalf  of  public  schools  and  popular  education.  He  has  made 
addresses  before  the  National  Educational  Association,  the  South- 
em  Educational  Association,  the  National  Prison  Reform  Associa- 
tion, the  North  Carolina  Society  in  New  York,  the  North 
Carolina  Society  in  Atlanta,  the  Twentieth  Century  Club  of  New 
York,  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science  in 
Philadelphia  and  other  similar  organizations,  besides  speaking  in 
all  the  larger  towns  and  most  of  the  counties  of  North  Carolina. 


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466  NORTH  CAROLINA 

He  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland  member  of  the  com- 
mission to  examine  the  coinage  of  the  United  States  Mint  at 
Philadelphia,  and  by  President  Roosevelt  member  of  the  Board  of 
Visitors  to  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  in  1903,  and  was 
selected  by  the  board  as  commencement  orator  on  that  occasion. 

President  Winston  was  married,  June  5,  1876,  to  Miss  Caroline 
S.  Taylor  of  Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire,  whose  acquaintance  he 
formed  at  Cornell  University.  They  have  four  children:  HoUis 
Taylor,  lieutenant.  United  States  Navy ;  Patrick  Henry,  lieutenant. 
United  States  Army ;  Lewis  Taylor,  cadet  at  the  North  Carolina 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts ;  and  Isabella  Byrd. 

President  Winston  is  an  Episcopalian  in  religion,  a  Democrat 
in  politics,  an  optimist  by  nature  and  conviction.  He  believes  in 
the  rule  of  the  people,  the  survival  of  the  fittest  and  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  good  over  evil  throughout  the  universe.  His  favorite 
studies  areastronomy  and  anthropology ;  his  favorite  book  is  the 
Bible ;  his  favorite  authors  are  Shalcespeare,  Scott  and  Emerson ; 
his  favorite  exercise  is  walking ;  his  chief  pleasure  is  contemplation 
of  nature;  his  highest  ideal  is  duty  well  performed.  His  rules 
for  success  in  life  are : 

1.  Treasure  no  thoughts  nor  memories  but  what  are  noble  and 
inspiring. 

2.  Summon  all  your  energies  and  faculties  to  the  duties  of  the 
hour. 

3.  Look  forward  to  the  future  with  hope  and  confidence. 

William  S.  Pearson, 


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ROBERT   WATSON    WINSTON 


ROBERT  W.  WINSTON'S  first  impressions 
outside  those  of  his  own  home  were  of  the  last 
days  of  the  Civil  War.  He  knew  something  of 
**canteens  and  hard-tack,  and  now  and  then  a 
dead  horse  along  the  public  road  by  his  father's 
refugee  home  in  Franklin  County,  where  Blair 
andTiis  thousands  marched."  Still  more  vivid,  however,  is  his 
recollection  of  the  Grant- Seymour  campaign,  when  he  was  eight 
years  of  age.  He  knew  at  first  hand  the  evils  of  the  Reconstruction 
governments.  Because  the  Republicans,  then  called  Radicals  in 
Bertie,  made  use  of  the  United  States  flag  as  their  political  em- 
blem, he  learned  to  hate  the  flag  of  his  country.  For  many  years 
it  seemed  to  him  to  stand  for  the  Republican  Party. 

He  was  bom  September  12,  i860,  and  at  eleven  years  of  age 
he  went  to  Oxford  to  attend  the  school  of  James  H.  Homer,  an 
old  friend  and  college-mate  of  his  father,  whose  daughter  he  after- 
ward married.  The  thorough  systematical  training  received  here 
made  a  lasting  impression  on  the  young  boy.  To  this  day  he  can 
quote  hundreds  of  Latin  epigrams  which  he  learned  under  Mr. 
Homer's  instruction.  In  1875,  thoroughly  prepared  according  to 
the  ideals  of  the  old  classical  academy,  he  entered  the  University 
of  North  Carolina.  There  was  about  the  University  of  those  days 
much  to  inspire  a  young  man — the  memories  of  the  great  men 
who  had  studied  within  those  walls  and  the  beginning  of  a  new 


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468  NORTH  CAROLINA 

day  of  hope  for  the  South.  There  were  also  a  large  number  of 
students  who  have  since  become  famous  in  law,  in  politics,  in  the 
church  and  in  educational  work.  With  the  best  of  these  Robert 
Winston  strove  for  leadership,  finally,  at  the  end  of  the  University 
career,  winning  the  Willie  P.  Mangum  medal  for  oratory,  the 
highest  honor  given  by  the  University.  In  addition  to  making  a 
reputation  as  a  debater  and  as  an  orator,  he  had  proven  himself  to 
be  a  good  student  both  of  text-books  and  of  contemporary  events. 
At  twenty-nine  years  of  age  he  was  elected  a  judge  of  the 
Superior  Courts  of  North  Carolina,  and  served  until  he  resigned 
five  years  later  to  return  to  the  practice  of  law.  He  had  been  in 
the  State  Senate,  had  served  as  State  committeeman  and  had  been 
active  in  State  politics,  all  the  while  giving  the  closest  attention 
to  law — decern  annorum  lucubfationes.  Retiring  from  the  bench 
in  January,  1895,  he  settled  in  Durham,  where  his  law  firm, 
Winston  &  Bryant,  has  now  perhaps  the  largest  general  practice 
in  the  State.  During  the  past  ten  years  he  has  come  to  be  one 
of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  in  North  Carolina.  In  the  Norton 
case  he  obtained  the  largest  verdict  ever  rendered  in  this  State 
in  a  personal  damage  suit.  In  two  of  the  most  important  and 
celebrated  cases  of  recent  years — Gattis  v.  Kilgo  and  the  trial  of 
Josephus  Daniels  for  contempt  of  court — ^he  was  the  leadmg 
lawyer,  and  made  a  reputation  for  himself  by  his  minute  knowl- 
edge of  the  law  as  well  as  his  forensic  ability.  In  the  last  case 
he  said : 

"In  a  country  like  ours  we  have  to  give  and  take.  This  is  no  kid-glove 
Democracy— our  people  love  free  play  and  they  love  brave,  courageous 
men.  They  know  that  the  great  Fourth  Estate  has  its  part  to  play  in  the 
economy  of  events.  Human  liberty  never  culminated  until  there  came  the 
free  press.  The  revolution  of  France  would  have  broken  no  shackles 
from  human  limbs,  torn  no  prisoners  from  dungeon  cells,  but  for  the 
printing  press.  Your  Honor  does  not  agree  with  Mr.  Daniels  politically* 
— nor  do  I  agree  with  him  in  all  that  he  writes,  but  this  I  may  say, 
Josephus  Daniels  never  dodges  and  may  always  be  found  on  the  side  of 
right.  We  appeal  to  your  Honor,  not  only  as  a  true  and  loyal  son  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  but  also  as  a  son  of  North  Carolina  native 
and  to  the  manor  born — we  appeal  to  your  Honor  by  the  recollection  of 


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ROBERT  WATSON  WINSTON  469 

that  kindliness  of  feeling  existing  among  all  our  people  of  whatever  party, 
we  appeal  to  your  Honor  that  this  writ  may  be  discharged,  so  that  for  all 
time  to  come  it  may  be  known  that  we  have  not  only  a  free  press,  but  a 
free  judiciary — thereby  restoring  peace  to  our  distracted  State.** 

Despite  this  appeal,  the  rule  is  made  absolute ;  the  editor  stands 
committed  to  jail  until  he  pays  a  fine  of  $1000.  He  says  that  he 
will  rot  in  jail  before  he  will  pay  a  penny,  and  applies  for  the 
writ  of  Habeas  Corpus.  This  is  granted,  and  Mr.  Daniels  is  set 
free.  The  next  day  the  News  and  Observer  pays  a  g^eat  tribute 
to  its  leading  attorney.  After  calling  to  mind  the  release  of  Josiah 
Turner  by  Judge  Brooks  and  Ransom's  great  speech  on  that 
occasion,  it  says: 

"But  the  hour  of  deliverance  is  at  hand.  Again  a  Federal  judge,  Jeter 
C.  Pritchard  of  the  Circuit  Court,  grants  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus; 
again  the  hearing  is  at  Raleigh,  again  the  bar  of  the  city,  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  the  State,  and  the  heart  of  the  whole  State  fill  the  court-room  and 
surging  crowds  overflow  the  building — another  peerless  orator  arises,  the 
brilliant  and  incisive  Robert  W.  Winston,  with  learning,  with  satire,  with 
ridicule,  with  inexhaustible  common  sense  and  irresistible  argument,  and 
the  judge  sweeps  the  case  out  of  the  court  and  returns  in  triumph  to 
the  people  the  representative  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  State.'* 

Judge  Winston  has  found  time  in  the  midst  of  an  active  pro- 
fessional life  to  do  much  reading.  It  is  no  unfamiliar  sight  for 
the  citizens  of  Durham  to  see  him  going  from  his  office  with  some 
biography  or  history  or  a  volume  of  essays.  He  has  a  library  of 
something  like  two  thousand  volumes — an  unusually  well-selected 
lot  of  books,  including,  besides  the  standard  works  of  English 
literature,  the  files  of  many  of  the  older  magazines.  He  is 
especially  well  read  in  biographies.  Shakespeare  is  his  favorite 
author ;  he  is  able  to  quote  nearly  the  whole  of  "Hamlet,"  as  well  as 
many  passages  from  his  other  plays.  A  strong,  classic,  well-turned 
sentence  haunts  him  and  masters  him.  In  conversation  he  gives 
evidence  of  much  historical  knowledge  as  well  as  observation,  his 
range  of  anecdotes  being  especially  notable. 

In  recent  years  he  has  been  much  in  demand  as  a  public  speaker. 


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470  NORTH  CAROLINA 

At  banquets  and  public  occasions  in  Durham  and  at  the  best 
colleges  in  North  Carolina  he  has  spoken  to  fine  effect.  His 
sympathy  with  all  mankind  may  be  seen  by  the  concluding 
sentence  of  his  address  on  Philanthroi5y  to  the  North  Carolina 
Teachers'  Assembly  at  Morehead  City:  "Ah!  When  one  con- 
templates a  life  of  self-sacrifice — ^a  Savonorola,  a  Jack  Mills,  a 
Spurgeon,  a  Madame  Rowland,  a  Florence  Nightingale — ^he  would 
almost  cut  in  twain  the  rope  that  binds  his  bark  to  the  shore  of 
selfishness  or  of  ambition.  He  would  fain  launch  out  upon  the 
great  ocean  of  humanity  to  work,  to  sacrifice  self  in  behalf  of 
mankind,  broadening  the  vision,  if  he  might,  and  quickening  the 
intellectual  life  and  adding  more  of  toleration  to  the  character  of 
our  warm-hearted  Southern  people  till  one's  little  end." 

In  an  address  at  Trinity  College  on  the  death  of  McKinlcy  he 
said : 

"There  was  no  dark  side  to  America's  future  with  William  McKinley. 
A  high  protectionist,  he  believed  in  American  labor  and  American  indus- 
tries. A  soldier  and  a  statesman,  he  made  the  name  and  the  fame  of 
America  to  ring  around  the  world  so  that  her  humblest  citizen  is  secure, 
whether  in  treacherous  Moscow  or  in  heathen  China.  An  optimist,  he  did 
not  tether  America's  progress.  A  Christian,  with  eyes  fixed  upon  that 
faraway  divine  event  toward  which  all  creation  tends,  William  McKinley 
in  the  flesh  was  of  that  goodly  company  of  men,  my  brothers,  men,  the 
workers  ever  reaping  something  new,  not  content  with  that  which  they 
have  done,  but  earnest  of  the  things  that  they  shall  do.  And  in  the  spirit, 
has  he  not  this  night  a  new  song  in  his  mouth  and  a  new  crown  on 
his  head?" 

Recently,  as  president  of  the  North  Carolina  Literary  and  His- 
torical Association,  he  delivered  an  address  on  State  Pride,  that 
has  attracted  much  favorable  comment.  In  it  he  shows  a  great 
love  for  his  native  State,  but  at  the  same  time  points  out  some 
defects  that  need  to  be  remedied.  Some  of  the  sentences  quoted 
in  this  address  indicate  well  the  spirit  of  the  man:  "We  have 
had  quite  enough  of  the  spoken  word  which  abideth  not.  We 
have  much  need  of  the  man  with  the  scrap-book,  with  paste  and 
scissors  and  with  pen  alid  ink  withal.  .  .  .  Our  State  is  long 
on  patriotism  and  short  on  methodical  habits  and  attention  to 


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ROBERT  WATSON  WINSTON  471 

details.  ...  A  pride  that  cannot  endure  criticism  is  not  the  right 
kind  of  pride."  One  of  the  ideas  he  cherishes  for  the  future  is 
that  he  may  contribute  to  the  development  of  a  proper  historical 
spirit  in  the  State  both  by  his  own  investigations  and  by  helping 
others. 

Judge  Winston  is  in  close  touch  with  the  University  and  colleges 
of  North  Carolina,  and  is  fond  of  the  society  of  college  men.  An 
ambition  of  his  is  to  be  the  scholar  in  law,  and  he  finds  his 
American  model  in  orators  like  Daniel  Webster  and  William 
Wirt — men  who  paid  much  attention  to  how  they  said  things. 
He  has  inherited  much  of  the  quaint  humor  of  his  father,  as  the 
two  following  extracts  from  an  article  for  the  University  Mag- 
asine  in  1898  and  from  a  published  address  exhibit:  "And  yet 
we  know  that  while  England  is  civilizing  and  Christianizing 
350,000,000  of  souls  in  India,  and  while  her  sails  whiten  every 
sea,  and  her  trade  relations  bring  pounds,  shillings  and  pence 
to  London  and  Liverpool  and  make  these  cities  the  financial 
barometers  of  the  world,  the  United  States  is  wringing  her  hands 
and  rolling  her  great  big  eyes  and  wondering  what  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Abraham  Lincoln  would  have  done  with  Cuba  and 
the  Philippines!"  Again:  "In  a  general  sort  of  way  the  average 
North  Carolinian  is  proud  that  he  lives  in  the  Cape  Fear  section, 
or  that  he  is  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  or  he  brags  of  the  beauties 
of  Asheville  or  Raleigh,  or  the  wealth  of  Durham,  or  the  growth 
of  Charlotte  or  Greensboro,  and  he  honors  the  memory  of  her 
dead  heroes ;  but  if  you  ask  him  to  join  an  historical  society,  with 
aU  its  dreary  details  of  a  president  and  secretary,  of  committees 
and  of  papers  to  be  written  and  material  to  be  collected,  why  that 
is  quite  another  proposition — he  would  turn  that  over  to  the 
Ladies'  Aid  Society  and  call  his  dog  for  a  bird  hunt!"  In  1893 
he  published  his  "Talks  about  Law,"  a  booklet  of  some  two  hun- 
dred pages;  and  in  1903  his  lecture  before  the  University  Law 
School,  "Some  Judgments  and  How  to  Enforce  Them,"  went 
through  several  editions.  His  article,  in  1901,  for  the  South 
Atlantic  Quarterly,  on  "An  Unconsidered  Aspect  of  the  Negro 
Question,"  provoked  editorial  discussion  in  the  New  York  dailies. 


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472  NORTH  CAROLINA 

He  is  also  a  contributor  to  the  literary  department  of  the  Sunday 
Charlotte  Observer. 

It  was  Robert  W.  Winston  who,  in  1900,  first  called  for  a 
leader  for  the  common  schools  of  North  Carolina.  In  a  ringing 
address  before  the  State  Historical  Association  he  declared  that 
we  need  the  sweep  of  a  million  and  a  half  souls  aroused  to  action. 
The  public  schools  of  North  Carolina  stand  much  in  need  of  a 
steady  common-sense  fighter — a  man  with  no  axe  to  grind  and 
no  purpose  to  serve  but  to  arouse  the  people,  to  stir  them  and 
move  them  and  show  them  that  the  public  schools  are  not  getting 
what  they  ought  to  have,  and  are  not  what  they  were  in  i860,  when 
North  Carolina  had  a  four  months'  school  term  and  the  best  school 
system  in  the  Southern  States,  and  to  get  upon  the  housetop  and 
proclaim  that  the  liberties  of  the  illiterate  white  children  after 
1908  may  be  in  danger  unless  more  teachers  are  engaged  and  a 
longer  school  term  provided.  The  University,  the  colleges,  the 
graded  schools,  all  have  their  champions,  but  who  is  the  efficient 
champion,  who  is  the  endowment  raiser,  of  the  common  schools — 
the  schools  of  the  masses?  Who  will  be  the  man?  If  the  State 
will  yield  but  three,  we  may  have  a  new  Thermopylae!"  In  less 
than  six  months  a  great  tide  of  education  was  in  full  flow,  directed 
by  our  educational  governor  and  his  wise  and  enthusiastic  council 
of  State. 

Judge  Winston  has  been  from  the  beginning  a  public-spirited 
citizen,  taking  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  community 
in  which  he  has  lived.  While  in  Oxford  he  endeavored  to  make 
the  growth  of  that  town  one  of  his  chief  concerns.  As  senator 
he  was  the  author  of  the  "No  Fence  Law,"  which  has  revolution- 
ized the  system  of  farming  and  saved  the  forests  of  this  section. 
He  made  this  fight  in  the  face  of  much  opposition,  which,  how- 
ever, has  now  given  way  to  universal  praise,  as  being  the  most 
beneficial  law  for  promoting  agriculture  ever  passed  by  the  State 
legislature. 

Since  living  in  Durham  he  has  been  identified  with  every  move- 
ment looking  to  the  development  of  the  town  and  county.  He  was 
the  first  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  one  of  the 


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ROBERT  WATSON  WINSTON  473 

prime  movers  in  the  establishment  of  the  Public  Library,  of  which 
he  has  been  a  trustee  since  its  foundation.  His  speech  before  the 
committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  secured  the  Govern- 
ment Building,  which  has  just  been  completed.  He  was  active 
in  securing  the  splendid  new  Union  Depot  for  the  city.  He  is 
director  of  the  First  National  Bank  and  a  helper  in  every  organiza- 
tion that  looks  to  the  development  of  the  city.  He  organized  the 
Bank  of  Chapel  Hill.  He  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  county,  endeavoring  to  assist  the  county  superin- 
tendent in  building  well-fumished  schoolhouses.  He  has  also  co- 
operated with  the  county  commissioners  in  the  work  of  building 
good  roads  for  the  county  of  Durham,  and  with  the  mayor  and 
aldermen  in  paving  the  streets  and  in  beautifying  and  ornamenting 
the  city. 

For  the  past  ten  years  he  has  declined  to  stand  for  any  public 
office,  though  his  voice  has  been  heard  and  his  pen  felt  in  every 
political  campaign.  There  is  scarcely  a  public  step  taken  by  the 
Democratic  Party  in  this  State  since  the  war  that  he  does  not 
approve  of — election  laws,  Jim-crow-car-laws,  constitutional 
amendment  and  the  rest.  There  was  no  other  way.  "If  I  had 
to  pass  upon  the  relative  value  of  the  services  of  the  stalwart 
fighting  North  Carolina  Democrat  and  the  hesitating,  cautious 
one,  I  would  name  the  former.  Joe  Turner,  Randolph  Shotwell 
and  Plato  Durham  have  a  high  place  in  the  Temple  of  Fame." 

But  what  is  done  is  done.  Let's  go  at  something  else.  Let's 
build  up  our  State.  Judge  Winston  is  proud  of  the  friendship  of 
good  men  of  all  parties  and  of  the  esteem  of  both  the  contending 
forces  in  his  own  party.  He  has  ever  hoped  that  the  good  in 
all  would  be  recognized  and  used  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  com- 
monwealth. His  ideal  is  more  light,  more  happiness,  larger  truth 
and  greater  tolerance  of  thought  for  North  Carolina.  It  has 
been  his  steadfast  purpose  to  keep  and  hold  the  middle  way — 
the  way  that  lies  to  peace  and  safety  to  society.  For  example,  when 
the  negroes,  with  their  white  allies,  were  making  the  east  un- 
livable,  he  was  in  favor  of  taking  the  ballot  from  them  at  any. 
cost ;  but  when  the  amendment  was  secured,  he  was  for  peace,  and 


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474  NORTH  CAROLINA 

opposed  any  attempt  to  impeach  the  Republican  judges.  '*Make 
the  chasm  between  the  races  socially  as  deep  as  the  deepest 
depths,  but  give  the  negro  a  chance  in  the  race  of  life,  and  do 
not  make  abuse  of  him  a  riding  horse — ^to  ride  into  office."  At 
the  same  time  that  Robert  W.  Winston  was  calling  for  "peace" 
in  defense  of  Josephus  Daniels  he  was  also  calling  for  "peace" 
in  defense  of  B.  N.  Duke  in  the  Gattis  case. 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Winston  never  seem  happier  than  when  enter- 
taining their  friends  at  Eldon  Hall,  their  magnificent  home  in 
Durham.  Two  sons  and  two  daughters  have  added  much  sunshine 
to  their  lives.  The  oldest  of  these,  James  Horner  Winston,  is  the 
first  Rhodes  scholar  from  North  Carolina  at  Oxford  University. 
He  is  fortunate  in  having  matriculated  at  Christ  Church,  occupy- 
ing the  rooms  of  William  Ewart  GJadstooe. 

Such  is  a  glimpse^t  thie  life-work  of  Robert  W.  Winston,  a  man 
of  vast  industry  and- diversity  of  talents,  whose  mental  equipment 
sweeps  from  the  mercjurial  temperament  of  the  impassioned  orator 
to  the  cold,  business-like  methQds  of  the  tnost  successful  modem 
man  of  affairs.  ': 

Edwin  Mifns. 


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FRANCIS  DONNELL  WINSTON 

fKANCIS  DONNELL  WINSTON,  lieutenant- 
governor  of  North  Carolina,  was  the  fourth 
son  of  Patrick  Henry  Winston  and  Martha 
Elizabeth  Byrd,  and  was  born  in  Windsor, 
Bertie  County,  October  2,  1857. 
He  combines  in  a  high  degree  the  talents, 
taste*  and  powers  of  his  ancestors  on  both  the  paternal  and 
maternal  side,  suggesting  in  mental,  physical  and  moral  character- 
istics the  Winstons,  Fullers  and  Cookes  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  the  Byrds,  Watsons,  Capeharts  and  Razeurs — English, 
Scotch,  Irish,  Welsh  and  French. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  in  the  celebrated  Homer  School 
at  Oxford,  North  Carolina,  and  at  Fetter's  School,  Henderson, 
North  Carolina.  In  1873  he  entered  Cornell  University,  Ithaca, 
New  York.  In  1875  the  University  of  North  Carolina  was  re- 
vived, and  he  was  the  first  student  to  be  enrolled  in  the  new 
University.  He  was  graduated  June,  1879,  receiving  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  After  teaching  school  for  one  year,  and 
studying  law  with  his  father,  he  entered  the  Dick  &  Dillard  Law 
School  at  Greensboro,  October,  1880,  and  in  January,  1881, 
obtained  his  license  to  practice  law. 

In  February,  1881,  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  Bertie  County  by  Hon.  Augustus  S.  Seymour,  judge  of  the 
Second  District.  After  two  years'  experience  as  clerk  of  the  court 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  has 


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476  NORTH  CAROLINA 

since  zealously  devoted  his  rare  and  varied  talents.  Succeeding 
at  once  to  the  large  practice  of  his  father,  he  became  a  very  busy 
lawyer,  and  took  high  standing  at  the  bar.  He  has  appeared  in 
most  of  the  important  litigation  in  his  section,  and  for  many 
years  has  been  the  adviser  of  the  largest  business  interests  in  those 
counties  where  he  practices.  He  is  specially  strong  in  the  trial 
of  cases,  and  in  all  cases,  no  matter  how  small,  he  makes  thorough 
preparation. 

In  1887  he  represented  Bertie  and  Northampton  counties  in  the 
State  Senate,  having  been  elected  without  opposition.  In  1898, 
in  response  to  urgent  demands  from  every  part  of  the  county,  he 
accepted  the  Democratic  nomination  for  a  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  His  Republican  opponent  had  carried  the  county 
two  years  before  by  1100  majority.  At  the  end  of  a  most  heated 
and  thorough  campaign  he  carried  Bertie  County,  and  with  him 
was  elected  the  entire  Democratic  ticket,  for  the  first  time  in 
twenty  years. 

In  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1899  he  took  stand 
at  once  as  a  leader,  especially  in  all  measures  looking  to  the 
reorganization  of  the  State  and  its  redemption  from  negro  rule. 
He  introduced  the  constitutional  amendment  disfranchising  illiter- 
ate negroes;  and  the  delivery  of  his  speech,  which  closed  the 
debate  in  the  House  on  that  great  question,  was  one  of  the  most 
dramatic  scenes  in  the  legislative  history  of  the  State.  Before 
the  meeting  of  the  legislature  he  was  frequently  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  speakership,  to  which  honor  he  did  not  aspire, 
preferring  to  work  on  the  floor  and  in  committees.  He  was  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections,  and  served  on 
all  the  important  committees,  including  those  on  the  constitutional 
amendment,  the  judiciary,  education,  election  law,  counties,  cities 
and  towns. 

In  1900  he  was  prominently  mentioned  for  the  nomination  for 
attorney-general.  When  the  convention  met,  it  was  deemed  wise 
to  give  that  nomination  to  the  extreme  west.  Still,  so  great  was 
his  popularity,  that  he  polled  nearly  a  third  of  the  votes  of  the 
convention,  receiving  votes  from  all  parts  of  the  State. 


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FRANCIS  DONNELL  WINSTON  477 

In  November,  1900,  he  was  again  elected  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  to  represent  Bertie  County  in  the  House.  In  the  session 
of  1901  he  was  again  prominent  and  active  in  all  important  legis- 
lation. He  introduced  and  championed  the  bill  establishing  **  North 
Carolina  Day"  in  our  public  schools,  and  also  exerted  potent 
influence  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  *'Free  Rural  Library"  Bill. 

In  the  session  of  1901  he  presided  over  the  House  when  it  was 
in  Committee  of  the  Whole  considering  the  Revenue  Act,  and 
was  recognized  as  a  well-equipped  parliamentarian  and  dispatcher 
of  business. 

In  1901  Governor  Charles  B.  Aycock  appointed  him  judge  of 
the  Second  Judicial  District.  He  brought  to  this  great  trust 
conspicuous  legal  ability  and  industry.  No  judge  in  North  Caro- 
lina ever  did  more  work  in  the  same  time.  He  combined  pleasant 
manners  with  judicial  dignity  and  firmness.  The  press,  the  bar 
and  the  people  were  loud  in  his  praise.    No  judge  stood  higher. 

In  1904,  at  the  great  Democratic  Convention  in  Greensboro, 
he  was  nominated  on  the  first  ballot  over  all  opponents  for  lieu- 
tenant-governor, having  received  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
votes  of  the  convention.  With  the  State  Democratic  ticket,  he  was 
elected  by  nearly  50,000  majority,  and  is  now  lieutenant-governor 
of  the  State. 

As  president  of  the  Senate,  during  the  session  of  1905  he  won 
golden  opinions  from  political  friends  and  foes  for  ability,  courtesy, 
promptness  and  wonderful  ease  and  rapidity  in  despatching  busi- 
ness. The  Raleigh  News  and  Obserzfcr  paid  him  the  following 
well-deserved  tribute : 

"Lieutenant-Governor  Winston  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the 
Senate,  during  the  recent  session  of  the  legislature,  with  ability  unsur- 
passed. North  Carolina  has  been  fortunate  in  the  gentlemen  it  has  elected 
as  lieutenant-governors,  but  no  man  has  held  that  position  whose  knowledge 
of  parliamentary  law,  whose  executive  ability  and  whose  innate  courtesy 
and  promptness  in  ruling  have  surpassed  those  qualities  as  displayed  by 
Governor  Winston.  In  the  early  part  of  the  session,  conferring  with 
leading  senators,  he  sought  their  co-operation  to  prevent  the  necessity 
for  night  sessions,  so  that  for  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  Senate  held 
no  night  sessions,  transacting  all  of  its  business  at  the  day  sessions.    This 


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478  NORTH  CAROLINA 

was  largely  due  to  Governor  Winston's  genius  in  despatching  business. 
He  won  not  only  the  approval  of  all  the  senators  of  all  parties,  but  their 
esteem  and  high  regard,  and  added  greatly  to  his  reputation  by  his  first 
service  as  president  of  the  Senate  of  North  Carolina." 

As  an  evidence  of  how  highly  the  senators  esteemed  him,  he  was 
presented  with  a  handsome  and  elaborate  silver  service,  and  most 
flattering  resolutions  were  engrossed  and  presented  to  him. 

Governor  Winston  is  a  great  political  organizer,  believing  in 
party  organization,  from  the  township  unit  up  to  the  State  and 
nation.  As  a  campaigner  and  organizer  he  has  had  few  equals 
and  no  superiors.  In  1898  and  1900  he  was  State  organizer  of 
Democratic  clubs.  He  is  now  president  of  the  State  Association 
of  Democratic  Clubs.  For  nearly  twenty  years  he  has  g^ven  freely 
of  time,  talents,  labors  and  means  for  the  success  of  his  party, 
speaking  in  almost  every  county  in  the  State,  and  cheerfully 
responding  to  all  public  calls. 

He  has  always  taken  deep  interest  in  everything  that  makes 
for  the  elevation  of  the  people,  especially  in  popular  education. 
In  1887  he  was  elected  by  the  legislature  a  trustee  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina,  and  although  he  has  resigned  that  position 
twice,  when  a  candidate  for  the  House,  he  has  been  twice  re- 
elected, and  is  now  serving  his  eighteenth  year  on  the  Board.  For 
many  years  he  has  been  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Windsor  Academy.  Scarcely  a  year  passes  without  his  making 
numerous  addresses  before  schools,  colleges  or  educational  gather- 
ings. As  an  educational  orator  he  is  in  constant  demand  by  the 
leading  schools  of  the  State.  In  1904  he  was  the  alumni  orator 
at  the-  University.  He  had,  in  1899,  represented  his  class  at  its 
second  reunion,  and  delivered  an  address  at  commencement. 
When  the  cornerstone  of  Alumni  Hall  was  laid,  he  was  the 
principal  speaker.  In  1901  he  delivered  the  address  on  Washing- 
ton's birthday  before  the  student  body  of  the  University.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  charged  with  the  duty  of  erecting 
Alumni  Hall,  and  secured  handsome  donations  for  that  purpose. 
"During  the  year  1904  he  accompanied  Governor  Aycock  to  the 
State  of  Maine  as  guest  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  when 


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FRANCIS  DONNELL  WINSTON  479 

both  of  them  made  speeches  on  education;  and  the  tributes  to 
Governor  Winston  were  as  high  as  any  ever  paid  to  a  North  Caro- 
lina statesman  by  the  people  of  another  State." 

Mr.  Winston  is  a  man  both  of  scholarly  and  of  antiquarian 
tastes.  His  address  before  the  North  Carolina  Bar  Association 
on  the  "Historical  Value  of  Court  Records"  was  a  charming  illus- 
tration and  a  revelation  of  the  value  of  our  old,  musty  court 
records.  He  encourages  the  collection  and  study  of  historic  ma- 
terial by  schools  and  societies.  He  has  taken  deep  interest  in 
Masonr)',  and  has  gone  from  the  lowest  positions  in  the  order 
to  the  office  of  Deputy  Grand  Master,  which  he  now  holds.  He 
is  in  frequent  demand  as  speaker  at  the  laying  of  cornerstones. 
He  has  taken  the  higher  degrees  of  this  order.  As  chairman  of 
the  committee  for  that  purpose,  he  was  largely  instrumental  in 
raising  the  funds  that  supplemented  the  gifts  of  Mr.  B.  N.  Duke, 
making  possible  the  cottage  system  at  the  Oxford  Masonic  Orphan 
Asylum.  His  most  signal  service  to  his  brethren  was  his  canvass 
to  raise  funds  to  build  the  great  Masonic  Temple  in  Raleigh.  He 
visited  lodges  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  raised  such  a  sum  of 
money  as  made  possible  the  erection  of  that  g^eat  structure. 

Mr.  Winston  is  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and 
junior  warden  of  St.  Thomas  Parish,  Windsor,  North  Carolina. 

As  a  private  citizen  Mr.  Winston  is  marked  by  active  and 
generous  interest  in  all  charitable  work;  as  a  neighbor,  by  kind- 
ness, generosity  and  hospitality ;  as  a  friend,  by  loyalty,  sympathy 
and  the  broadest  tolerance. 

In  1889  he  married  Rosa  Mary  Kenny  of  Portsmouth,  Vir- 
ginia. Their  home,  "Windsor  Castle,"  in  the  suburbs  of  Windsor, 
is  the  seat  of  a  most  delightful  hospitality. 

Mr.  Winston  lives  in  the  house  where  he  was  born.  Splendid 
inducements  have  been  held  out  to  him  to  locate  elsewhere  in 
North  Carolina  and  in  other  States,  but  he  prefers  to  live  in  the 
town  and  county  and  State  of  his  birth,  among  his  own  people, 
between  whom  and  himself  there  is  mutual  appreciation  and  un- 
bounded esteem,  admiration  and  affection.  Recently,  when  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  made  his  Southern  trip  and  attended  the  Raleigh 


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48o 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


Fair,  Lieutenant-Governor  Winston  was  called  upon  to  act  as  the 
host  of  the  President  while  in  Raleigh  and  also  in  his  trip  across 
the  State,  since  Governor  Glenn  was  unavoidably  prevented  from 
discharging  these  duties  because  of  a  bereavement  in  his  family. 
Governor  Winston's  remarks  in  introducing  the  President  to  the 
various  audiences  which  he  greeted  in  North  Carolina  were  always 
brief,  appropriate  and  wise,  and  he  won  many  expressions  of  ap- 
proval and  praise  for  the  superior  way  in  which  he  acquitted  him- 
self and  the  honor  he  reflected  upon  the  State. 

Charles  B.  Aycock, 


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NICHOLAS    WASHINGTON    WOODFIN 


;  MONG  the  active,  energetic  and  influential  men 
of  the  mountain  section  of  the  generation  which 
has  lately  passed  away  but  few,  if  any,  were 
more  important  to  that  region  than  Nicholas  W. 
Woodfin. 

Mr.  Woodfin  was  born  in  that  part  of  Bun- 
combe County  which  has  since  been  incorporated  into  Henderson, 
on  the  29th  day  of  January,  1810.  He  was  of  English  descent, 
the  Woodfins  having  emigrated  from  England  many  years  ago, 
and  being  among  the  early  settlers  of  Henderson  County.  His 
father,  John  Woodfin,  married  Mary  Grady,  and  was  a  prosperous 
farmer  in  the  Mills  River  section  of  his  county.  The  family  con- 
sisted of  twelve  children,  of  whom  he  was  the  fourth  son.  Living 
in  the  country  remote  from  any  town,  the  youth  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  passed  in  the  usual  manner  of  country  boys. 
He  was  blessed  with  remarkable  health,  strength  and  energy,  was 
fond  of  athletic  sports,  hunting  and  fishing  and  the  usual  pastimes 
of  country  life.  He  worked  on  the  farm  wlien  of  sufficient  age 
and  strength,  and  was  taught  his  primary  education  In  the  family. 
He  attended  the  neighborhood  schools  when  they  were  in  session, 
and  continued  his  studies  at  night  at  home.  When  he  had 
progressed  as  far  as  the  common  country  school  would  carry  him, 
he  and  his  younger  brother,  the  late  Dr.  Henry  Grady  Woodfin  of 
Macon  County,  received  invaluable  instruction  from  a  highly  edu- 
cated lawyer,  Colonel  Michael  Frances,  so  that  although  he  did 


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482  NORTH  CAROLINA 

not  enter  college,  he  had  superior  advantages  at  home,  and  was 
I  thoroughly  grounded  and  well  read  in  the  classics.    His  mind  was 

j  receptive  and  his  memory  retentive,  and  he  was  a  close  student 

I  and  an  exhaustive  reader. 

I  His  younger  brother,  Major  John  W.  Woodfin,  who  was  killed 

!  during  the  Civil  War,  was  also  a  brilliant  lawyer.     They  were 

I  devoted  brothers,  and  the  tragic  death  of  the  younger  brother  was 

I  a  lifetime  grief  to  Nicholas  Woodfin,  who  had  been  as  father  to 

him.  He  read  law  under  Governor  Swain,  who  conceived  a  high 
opinion  of  his  ability;  and  a  few  days  after  he  attained  his  age, 
in  February,  1831,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  county 
courts,  and  in  June  of  that  year  he  attended  his  first  court  at 
Franklin,  in  Macon  County.  The  next  year  he  obtained  his 
license  to  practice  in  the  Superior  Court.  At  that  period  Ashe- 
ville  was  a  straggling  hamlet  in  the  mountains,  that  possessed 
advantages  for  a  residence,  since  all  the  mountain  roads  led  to  it, 
and  it  was  the  center  in  intelligence  and  influence  in  the  mountain 
regions.  There  the  subject  of  this  sketch  at  once  made  his  home 
and  entered  upon  his  professional  career.  His  brother  was  a  suc- 
cessful lawyer,  and  he,  possessing  greater  abilities,  soon  took 
rank  among  the  leaders  of  the  bar.  On  the  i6th  of  June,  1840, 
he  was  happily  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Eliza  Grace  McDowell, 
a  daughter  of  Colonel  Charles  McDowell  of  historic  Quaker 
Meadows,  Burke  County,  a  granddaughter  of  General  Charles 
McDowell,  and  her  maternal  grandfather  was  General  Joseph 
McDowell  of  Pleasant  Gardens.  She  was  a  lady  of  g^eat  saintli- 
ness  and  beauty  of  character,  and  always  an  inspiration  to  her 
husband.  He  thus  became  connected  with  a  large  and  influential 
family,  embracing  some  of  the  most  prominent  of  his  associates. 
From  this  union  there  were  three  daughters :  Miss  Anna  Woodfin, 
who  is  so  much  beloved  by  the  people  of  Asheville ;  Mrs.  Benson 
Jones  and  Mrs.  Mira  Holland. 

Becoming  conspicuous  by  his  ability  in  his  profession,  his 
friends  brought  him  forward  in  1844  21s  senator  to  represent  the 
Buncombe  and  Henderson  district  in  the  State  Senate,  to  which 
he  was  elected  continuously  for  ten  years.    He  was  a  Whig  in 


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NICHOLAS  WASHINGTON  WOODFIN  483 

politics,  as  indeed  most  of  the  strong  men  across  the  mountains 
were  at  that  period ;  and  he  was  ardently  an  advocate  for  internal 
improvements  and  for  those  measures  that  would  tend  to  the 
material  and  social  advantages  of  his  community  in  that  remote 
and  sequestered  region.  Indeed,  it  has  been  said  of  him  **that 
there  is  no  name  in  Western  North  Carolina  more  identified  for 
the  last  thirty  years — ^that  is,  beginning  with  1845 — ^with  all  the 
material,  industrial  and  educational  interests  of  that  part  of  the 
State." 

As  a  boy  he  had  not  been  averse  to  labor,  had  evinced  a  strong 
desire  for  education,  and  had  devoted  many  days  to  study  which 
were  spent  in  idleness  by  his  companions,  and  when  he  had  attained 
man's  estate  the  same  characteristics  were  manifested.  In  his 
professional  career  he  devoted  to  the  study  and  practice  of  the 
law  an  energy  and  industry  never  surpassed.  Not  only  was  he 
engaged  during  the  day,  but  at  times  he  gave  a  large  portion  of 
his  nights  to  the  interest  of  his  clients.  He  made  himself  master 
of  the  facts  of  every  case,  and  never  failed  to  present  them  elab- 
orately to  the  court  and  jury.  His  thoroughness  brought  him 
prominence,  and  the  interest  he  manifested  in  every  cause  com- 
mitted to  him,  and  his  unusual  success  in  managing  his  cases, 
brought  him  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice.  Moreover,  he 
possessed  great  financial  ability,  and  speedily  became  one  of  the 
wealthiest  men  of  his  community.  He  acquired  a  large  landed 
estate,  and  gave  much  attention  to  improved  modes  of  culture.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Buncombe  County  Agricultural  Society,  and 
was  indefatigable  in  urging  improvement  on  the  attention  of  his 
fellow-members.  His  address  before  the  society  in  1855  was 
notable  not  merely  for  its  common  sense  and  the  information  which 
it  contained,  but  for  the  strength  with  which  he  urged  the  prin- 
ciples of  what  has  since  become  known  as  ^'intensive  farming;'* 
and  he  set  the  example  by  himself  raising  150  bushels  of  com 
on  one  acre  of  land,  while  his  crops  of  fine  grass  attracted  wide 
attention. 

Interested  in  whatever  concerned  his  community,  a  large  part 
of  his  time  was  given  in  efforts  to  obtain  railroad  facilities ;  and 


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484  NORTH  CAROLINA 

later,  as  a  railroad  contractor,  he  contributed  to  the  early  com- 
pletion of  the  Western  North  Carolina  Railroad.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  promoting  the  educational  interests  of  his  counfy, 
and  was  usually  on  the  School  Board,  and  he  assisted  many  strug- 
gling young  men  and  girls  in  their  efforts  to  prepare  themselves 
for  the  battle  of  life  by  obtaining  a  better  education.  Indeed,  Mr. 
Calvin  Wiley,  the  former  superintendent  of  public  schools,  re- 
garded Mr.  Woodfin  as  one  of  the  most  useful  men  in  this  respect 
in  the  State,  and  said  that  but  few,  if  any,  had  given  so  much  help 
in  the  cause  of  education.  Quite  a  number  of  young  men  were 
instructed  by  him  in  the  science  of  the  law  without  compensation, 
and  his  library  was  always  open  to  his  professional  brethren, 
especially  the  younger  members  of  the  bar.  Always  penetrated 
with  deep  religious  emotion,  in  October,  1858,  he  was  confirmed 
as  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  he  served  his  parish 
many  years  as  senior  warden. 

Rev.  Dr.  Buxton,  in  a  sermon  preached  after  his  death,  said 
of  Mr.  Woodfin:  **He  was  himself  thoroughly  aware,  like  all 
earnest  men  usually  are,  of  his  own  infirmities  of  character ;  but 
he  judged  himself  and  lived  in  constant  repentance  and  the  fear 
of  God.  I  have  seen  him  under  most  circumstances  that  bring 
out  character  before  men.  I  have  seen  and  been  with  him  in 
sickness  and  in  health,  in  prosperity  and  adversity,  in  family 
affliction  and  other  troubles,  till  finally  the  dark  curtains  of  death 
were  drawn  around  him,  to  sleep  in  peace !  From  what  I  have  seen 
of  him  under  all  these  circumstances,  I  can  testify  that  the  Word 
of  God  was  his  delight,  his  trust  and  support,  and  drew  to  itself 
his  unbounded  reverence  and  submission  as  a  rule  of  life.  Family 
prayer  had  long  been  his  daily  habit." 

His  life  in  his  family  was  beautiful;  affection  and  tender  regard 
permeated  all  his  conduct  within  his  doors ;  and  he  entertained  at 
his  home  the  first  men  of  the  State  who  visited  his  vicinity.  In 
conversation  he  was  interesting  to  all.  Indeed,  Governor  Swain 
said  that  "he  was  acquainted  with  the  educated  men  of  the  State, 
and  no  one  was  better  read  than  Mr.  Woodfin,  whom  he  loved  and 
admired  with  almost  paternal  affection." 


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NICHOLAS  WASHINGTON  WOODFIN  485 

His  home  was  rendered  beautiful  and  attractive  by  his  liberal 
expenditure  and  his  unerring  taste,  and  lovely  by  his  untiring  care 
for  his  family.  He  brightened  all  by  his  presence,  cheerfulness  and 
unselfishness. 

In  the  court-house  he  was  a  g^eat,  strong  lawyer,  and  for 
many  years  had  no  superior  ^t  the  bar  where  he  practiced ;  nor 
did  any  one  possess  a  fuller  share  of  public  confidence  in  the  in- 
tegrity of  his  actions  or  the  sincerity  of  his  motives  than  Mr. 
Woodfin. 

A  zealous  Whig,  he  adhered  to  that  party  to  the  last,  and 
thought  that  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  of 
Itself  was  not  such  a  menace  to  the  South  as  justified  secession, 
and  he  opposed  that  extreme  measure  until,  in  April,  1861,  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  called  on  North  Carolina  to  furnish  troops  to  coerce 
the  seceded  States  to  the  south.  Then  he,  like  the  other  Whigs 
of  North  Carolina,  hastened  to  take  action.  He  represented  Bun- 
combe County  in  the  convention  of  May,  1861,  that  was  unanimous 
for  secession. 

Neither  by  training  nor  disposition  was  he  fitted  for  a  military 
life,  but  he  gave  at  once,  and  readily,  his  best  service  to  the  State 
at  that  critical  period.  He  was  appointed  an  agent  of  the  State 
to  superintend  the  North  Carolina  Salt  Works,  that  were  erected 
at  the  salt  mines  in  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  he  was  indefati- 
gable in  his  eflForts  to  supply  the  State  with  that  necessary  com- 
modity during  the  war,  an  arduous  service,  for  which  he  would 
receive  no  compensation. 

After  the  war  had  ended  Mr.  Woodfin  returned  to  his  home 
and  engaged  again  in  his  professional  work.  Heavy  pecuniary 
obligations  fell  on  him  by  reason  of  the  failure  of  friends  for  whom 
he  had  largely  endorsed  in  times  of  prosperity,  and  to  meet  these 
engagements  he  applied  himself  to  the  extent  of  his  energy  and 
constitution.  He  was  a  great  worker,  attached  to  his  profession ; 
indeed,  so  warmly  attached  to  it  was  he,  that  when  earlier  in  life, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  a  judgeship  was  offered  him,  he  declined 
the  proffered  honor,  preferring  to  remain  as  an  advocate.  Under 
the  new  conditions  incident  to  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Woodfin 


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486  NORTH  CAROLINA 

redoubled  his  exertions  at  the  bar  and  led  a  very  laborious  life.  But 
still  he  was  greatly  interested  in  the  development  of  his  section 
and  in  all  the  enterprises  that  tended  to  its  advancement.  A  hand- 
some man,  graceful  in  movement  and  with  pleasing  address  and 
exceptionally  pleasant  in  conversation,  he  moved  in  and  out  among 
the  people,  urging  them  to  renewed  efforts  for  the  amelioration 
of  their  material  and  social  conditions,  and  he  became  one  of  the 
most  useful,  as  he  was  one  of  the  most  prominent,  of  the  public 
men  in  Western  North  Carolina.  He  urged  the  diversification 
of  industries,  particularly  the  introduction  of  tobacco  as  a  profit- 
able crop  and  its  manufacture  as  a  foundation  for  material  pros- 
perity. In  like  manner  he  urged  the  erection  of  mills  and  factories, 
and  especially  the  making  of  cheese,  the  western  country  being  so 
well  adapted  to  dairying.  Indeed,  he  himself  started  a  cheese 
factory,  which  for  a  time  was  in  very  successful  operation. 

And  thus  years  wore  on  until  1876,  when,  on  Sunday,  May  23d, 
after  a  severe  illness  of  a  few  days,  he  passed  away,  lamented 
by  his  entire  community ;  esteemed  not  only  as  an  ornament  to  his 
profession,  but  a  conspicuous  example  of  eminent  citizenship. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


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